bele

v.

‘burn’ (Modern English )

Etymology

Derivation from ON, cp. OIcel bǽla, provides the best explanation for the form, sense and distribution of this uncommon v. In ON (prose) it always occurs in the alliterative phrase brenna ok bǽla. In ME usage, MED’s citations show a recurring collocation in ME with brest, bale and bolne, as we find in this instance (‘my breste in bale bot bolne and bele’) (MED's v. bēlen is not evidently included in OED, unless just conceivably the ME spelling variant '?bele' in the entry for the v. boil is meant to refer to it). The ON v. is presumably formed on the more common n. represented by OIcel bál ‘fire, funeral pyre, blaze’, cognate with OE bǣl ‘fire, flame’ (< PGmc ēl-), ult. related to a PIE adj. *bhel ‘white’ (see bale (2)(n.)). OED cautiously suggests that bele could be a form of boil (v.), or related to a variant beal (n.) of boil (n.) (< OE bȳl ‘boil’) via a sense of 'to become inflamed, fester' (cp. beal v. and beal n.1); this latter option is also explored by Luttrell (1955: 207–9), who is however unable to supply a convincing etymon.

PGmc Ancestor

ƀēl-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

bǽla ‘to burn’
(ONP bǽla (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

 Icel bæla

OE Cognate

bǣl (n.) ‘fire, flame’

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C1c

Attestation

Otherwise only cited by MED from DT and ?c1450 St.Cuth. (Eg 3309)

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Pe 18

Bibliography

(1) MED bēlen (v.) , de Vries bæla, Mag. bæla