beon

Middle English

Etymology 1

Verb

beon

1. alternative form of been (“to be”)

Etymology 2

Noun

beon

1. alternative form of ben (“bees”, plural of be)

Old English

Alternative forms

• bīon

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be͜oːn/
• Rhymes: -e͜oːn

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *beun, from Proto-Germanic *beuną (“to be”), related to būan (“to dwell”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bʰuH-. The past tense forms are from Proto-Germanic *wesaną (from which also wesan), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-.

Verb

bēon

1. to be; exist
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Greater Litany"

     Sē ðe gōd bēon wile, clypiġe tō ðām þe ǣfre is gōd, þæt hē hine gōdne ġewyrċe.

     Let the one who wishes to be good call to the one who is always good so that he [the good one] will make him [the wisher] good.

   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of The Consolation of Philosophy

     Þā cwæþ hē, "Wāst þū hwæt mann sīe?" Þā cwæþ iċ, "Iċ wāt þæt hit biþ sāwol and līchama."

     Then he said, "Do you know what a person is?" So I said, "I know it's a soul and a body."

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Lord's Ascension"

     Eft hē cwæð, "Iċ bēo mid ēow eallum dagum, ōð þisre worulde ġeendunge," sēðe lyfað and rīxað mid þām Ælmihtiġan Fæder and ðām Hālġum Gāste ā on ēċnysse. Āmen.

     Again he said, "I will be with you on all days, until the ending of this world," who liveth and reigneth with the Almighty Father and the Holy Ghost ever to eternity. Amen.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Passion of the Blessed Stephen Protomartyr"

     Ǣlċ lof bið on ende ġesungen.

     All praise will be sung at the end.

   • Blickling Homilies, "St. Andrew"

     Wē bēoþ mid þē swā hwæder swā þū færest.

     We'll be with you wherever you go.

2. to become

Usage notes

• The verbs bēon and wesan both mean to be, but in different circumstances. For most purposes, wesan is used; bēon is used for what is known as the "gnomic present" and the future tense of to be.
  • The gnomic present, in short, refers to anything which is a general truth, like Winter biþ ċealdost ("Winter is coldest"), or Fēower sīðum seofon bēoþ eahta and twēntiġ ("Four times seven is (lit. "are") twenty-eight"). Generally, statements about the self will not be gnomic. For example, although it may seem that a statement like I am a person is always true, such a statement is nonetheless rendered with wesan: Iċ eom mann. However, as much Anglo-Saxon literature is written from a Christian perspective, statements about qualities of the Christian God often use bēon: God biþ ēċe and būtan ende ("God is eternal and without end").
  • To be is the only verb in Old English for which the future tense may be indicated with morphology instead of adverbs or context clues, and for this purpose, bēon is used. So, I am the king is rendered as Iċ eom sē cyning, but I will be the king is rendered as Iċ bēo sē cyning. Note that bēon is not used for any other verb's future tense; both I see it and I will see it are written as Iċ hit ġesēo.
  • Both bēon and wesan share past tense forms.
• Both bēon and wesan are copulative verbs, which means they are not transitive and do not take a direct object. Because of this, predicate nouns and adjectives will be in the nominative case; for example: Hēo is iċ ("She is I"), not *Hēo is mē ("She is me").

Conjugation

Conjugation of bēon (irregular)

infinitive	bēon	bēonne
indicative mood	present tense	past tense
first person singular	bēo	—
second person singular	bist	—
third person singular	biþ	—
plural	bēoþ	—
subjunctive	present tense	past tense
singular	bēo	—
plural	bēon	—
imperative
singular	bēo
plural	bēoþ
participle	present	past
	bēonde	(ġe)bēon

Descendants

• Middle English: been, be, bean, ben, beon, boen, seen, sen
  • English: be; been (dialectal)
  • Scots: be
  • Yola: ba, b', bee, be

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

bēon

1. inflection of bēo:
   1. accusative/genitive/dative singular
   2. nominative/accusative plural