An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language Part 64

_Douglas._

This word is most probably from Lat. _bene_, well.

BENJEL, _s._ A heap, a considerable quant.i.ty; as "a _benjel_ of coals,"

when many are laid at once on the fire, S. B. _Bensil_, however, is used in the same sense in the South and West of S.

V. ~Bensell~.

BENK, BINK, _s._ A bench, a seat. It seems sometimes to have denoted a seat of honour.

_Kelly._

Dan. _benk_, Germ. _bank_, scamnum; Wachter.

BENN, _s._ A sash.

V. ~Bend~.

_Statist. Acc._

BENORTH, _prep._ To the northward of; _besouth_, to the southward of, S.

_Wyntown._

BENSELL, BENSAIL, BENT-SAIL, _s._

1. Force, violence of whatever kind, S.

_Douglas._

2. A severe stroke; properly that which one receives from a push or shove, S.

3. "A severe rebuke," Gl. s.h.i.+rr. "I got a terrible _bensell_;" I was severely scolded, S.

4. _Bensil of a fire_, a strong fire, South and West of S.

It is not unlikely that the word was originally _bent-sail_, as alluding to a vessel driven by the force of the winds.

_To_ BENSEL, _v. a._ To bang, or beat, Gl. Sibb. "_Bensel_, to beat or bang. Vox rustica, Yorksh." Gl. Grose.

BENSHAW, BEANSHAW, _s._ A disease, apparently of horses.

_Polwart._

Formed perhaps from A. S. _ban_, Teut. _been_, os, and _hef_, elevatio; q. the swelling of the bone.

BENs.h.i.+E, BENs.h.i.+, _s._ Expl. "Fairy's wife."

_Pennant._

It has been observed, that this being, who is still reverenced as the tutelar daemon of ancient Irish families, is of pure Celtic origin, and owes her t.i.tle to two Gaelic words, _Ben_ and _sighean_, signifying the head or chief of the fairies. But it seems rather derived from Ir.

Gael. _ben_, _bean_ a woman, said by Obrien to be the root of the Lat.

_Venus_, and _sighe_, a fairy or hobgoblin.

BENT, _s._

1. A coa.r.s.e kind of gra.s.s, growing on hilly ground, S. Agrostis vulgaris, Linn. Common hair-gra.s.s.

2. The coa.r.s.e gra.s.s growing on the sea-sh.o.r.e, S. denoting the Tritic.u.m juncium, and also the Arundo arenaria.

_Lightfoot._

3. The open field, the plain, S.

_Douglas._

4. To _gae to the bent_, to provide for one's safety, to flee from danger, by leaving the haunts of men; as it is also vulgarly said, _to tak the c.u.n.trie on his back_.

_Henrysone._

Teut. _biendse_; Germ. _bintz_, _bins_, a rush, juncus, scirpus; a _binden_, vincire, quia sportas, sellas, fiscellas, et similia ex juncis conteximus; Wachter.

BENTY, BENTEY, _adj._ Covered with bent-gra.s.s, S.

_Monroe's Iles._

_To_ BER _on hand_.

V. ~Bear~.

BERBER, _s._ Barberry, a shrub.

_Sir Gawan and Sir Gol._

L. B. _berberis_, Sw. id.