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Bedeck

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:49 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• bedeck •

Pronunciation: bê-dekHear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: 1. Adorn, decorate. 2. To deck (out), to dress in finery or your Sunday-go-to-meetin' best.

Notes: Here is a word that won't go away; we should reward its stamina by using it more. The past participle is probably the form we are most familiar with, as a town hall bedecked with flags and bunting. The gerund hasn't been used for years, but remains in the Oxford English Dictionary: She arrived in splendiferous bedeckings. The expression we use now does not allow a gerund and has a slangy sound to it: "He came decked out in a new suit."

In Play: This word may be used with inanimate objects: "The church was bedecked in a sea of flowers and glowing faces." It may also be used to refer to animate objects referring to their dress: "Maud Lynn Dresser arrived at the party bedecked in every piece of jewelry in her possession."

Word History: Today's Good Word was dekke in Middle English, probably borrowed from Middle Dutch dec "roof, covering". The Middle Dutch verb decken, from which dec was derived, originally meant simply "to cover". The reason we think this word was borrowed is that English already had directly inherited a word from Old Germanic, derived from the underlying Proto-Indo-European root (s)teg- "to cover"; it was (and still is) thatch. Thatch is cousin to German Dach "roof", Czech and Slovak deka "blanker", and Latin tegula "tile", as in the tiles that Romans covered the roofs of their houses with. (Let us now bedeck James Thompson lavishly with our gratitude for coming up with today's Good Word and posting it to Dr. Goodword.)

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 11:33 am
by damoge
and "bedight"?

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:21 pm
by Slava
Here's another of bedeck's relatives, Bedizen.

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:38 pm
by LukeJavan8
The word makes me think of the old song:
"In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it".

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:49 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Slava, I checked the bedizen link and found I had suggested the word! Totally forgot and still don't remember.

I do appreciate the etymology of be- as make. I've often wondered about those words.

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:57 pm
by Slava
I do appreciate the etymology of be- as make. I've often wondered about those words.
I've thought a lot about the be- words, too. So far I've come up with just one that means the opposite of the usual sense. Behead does not mean to give someone a head.

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:59 pm
by damoge
so "bedight" is some past participle of "bedizen" and not "bedeck"?
bedizen sounds very german, did we take it "as is"?
Yes, Luke, and bedight is a bed laden with blossoms waiting for a special small person...

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:28 pm
by Slava
It looks to me that all three have their separate roots.

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:56 pm
by damoge
Now I'm confused. Bedight, bedeck and bedizen each has a separate root? Is there a functional difference among the words?

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:40 pm
by Slava
Now I'm confused. Bedight, bedeck and bedizen each has a separate root? Is there a functional difference among the words?
I believe so. Here are my takes on them:

Bedizen has negative connotations, implying that one has overdone it.

Bedeck is more positive, or at least neutral. It implies simply that something is decked out.

Bedight is no longer used, except in poetry, and though in general it means bedeck, it has a great many other meanings that can be used, (including "to rule," "to handle," "to abuse," "to have sex with," "to kill," "to clothe," "to make ready," "to repair"), or so sayeth etymonline.com.

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 7:00 pm
by MTC
"Bedizened Bee" (Apis mellifera pictus): Rarely observed member of the Honey Bee family which adorns itself with colorful bits and pieces of material found in its environment in an effort to obtain a competitive mating advantage with the Queen.

Once adorned to its satisfaction, the Bedizened Bee performs an elaborate dance to attract the Queen, stepping nimbly right and left while moving its mandibles and antennae suggestively. The courtship display is often interrupted by unadorned drones, but if successful, the Bedizened Bees' ornate lineage is insured.

Thus far the Bedizened Bee has only been found in a narrow range around the Hollywood Hills, America, and Bombay, India, likely because of proximity to the film industry with its abundance of sequins, ribbons, and feathers employed by the bee in its mating dance.

Look for specials on the Bedizened Bee by the National Geographic and Discovery Channels, coming soon.

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 7:33 pm
by Philip Hudson
Brahm's lullaby:

Guten Abend, gute Nacht,
mit Rosen bedacht,
mit Näglein besteckt,
schlupf′ unter die Deck!
Morgen früh, wenn Gott will,
wirst du wieder geweckt.

Lullaby and good night,
With roses bedight,
With lilies o'er spread
Is baby's wee bed.
Lay thee down now and rest,
May thy slumber be blessed.

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:39 pm
by damoge
Guten Abend, gute Nacht,
mit Rosen bedacht,
mit Näglein besteckt,
schlupf′ unter die Deck!
Morgen früh, wenn Gott will,
wirst du wieder geweckt.

ok, very old german poorly remembered says:


good evening, good night
with roses bedight
with lilies bestrewn
slip neath the covers.
early tomorrow, if god wills,
you will again awake.

However, that doesn't tell me how bedight could mean all those different things. I see no thread to connect them. Someone with greater knowledge, or at least a better imagination, come to my rescue please?

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2013 11:43 pm
by Philip Hudson
damoge: Your translation from German to English is pretty good and not so poorly remembered. The standard English version of the lullaby was not intended to be an exact translation. I am primarily interested it the German word bedacht and its translation into English bedight.

I am also puzzled by the many possible definitions of bedight.

MTC: Your "Bedizened Bee" breaks me up. Bravo!

Re: Bedeck

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 11:16 am
by damoge
it would seem bedacht is better as bedecked, and maybe bedight was just because it rhymed with night...
no?

I always thought bedight and bedecked were just alternative forms for the same thing. I never knew they were separate words from separate sources with different meanings.

Am feeling very confused at this point.