Where does “beof” come from?
beof (Middle English) comes from Old French boef, from English beef, from Middle English bef, from Old French buef, from Latin bōs, from Ancient Greek βοῦς, from Latin corvus, from Proto-Italic korwos — army.
Ancestry of “beof”, step by step
beof traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French boef
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | boef | ox |
| 2 | English | beef | The meat from a cow, bull, or other bovine; A... |
| 3 | Middle English | bef | beef; cow flesh or meat; A bovine or its carcass |
| 4 | Old French | buef | cow |
| 5 | Latin | bōs | head of cattle (cow, bull, steer, or ox) |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | βοῦς | cow, ox, cattle; shield: ὃτι ἐκ βοείων ἐστι... |
| 7 | Latin | corvus | A raven; a bird associated with prophecy and... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | korwos | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱorh₂wós | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱer- | to grow, to make grow, to nourish; to plait,... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | kr̥- | to turn, to bend |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ker- | army |
via Anglo-Norman beof
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anglo-Norman | beof | — |