• bethink •
Pronunciation: bi-thingk • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, reflexive
Meaning: 1. To consider, take into consideration, reflect on, change one's mind. 2. To remind oneself, recall, recollect.
Notes: We have today a reflexive verb, a verb which must be followed by either a reflexive pronoun, himself, herself, myself, etc. or just the personal pronoun, him, her, me, etc., as 'I bethink me' or 'I bethink myself'. The past tense and participle is bethought, just like think. This word is a bit less archaic than methinks "it seems to me".
In Play: We might read bethink somewhere used with a reflexive pronoun like this: "Might Matt Tremoni bethink himself, return to June Wedden, and say he was sorry he left her?" This word may also occur with the personal pronoun in expressions like this: "When you call your butler, bethink you that he may not hear, or, hearing, may not obey."
Word History: Today's Good Word is obviously a combination of the verbal prefix be- + think. Be- is the unaccented form of by- as in bystander, bypass, byline (all accented). As opposed to bedazzle, behold, belittle (all unaccented). Think comes from Proto-Germanic thankjan, source also of thank. Proto-Germanic got its word from PIE teng-/tong- "think, feel", We find its remains in the rare Latin tongere "to think", German denken "to think", Danish tænke "to think", Swedish tänka "to think", and Icelandic þakka "to thank". That may be its remains under Albanian dukem "to seem, appear". (Now let's bethink ourselves to thank prolific contributor Rob Towart for his discovery of this old Good Word in his readings and sharing it with us.)
