• behoove •
Pronunciation: bee-huv • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, transitive
Meaning: No, this isn't what the blacksmith does. In fact, this word has two meanings completely unrelated to trotters. 1. To be appropriate for, to oblige, to morally require. 2. To benefit, to be beneficial.
Notes: Today's Good Word is used mostly in a crystallized phrase, "It behooves X to . . . ." In this respect, it resembles a near synonym, incumbent, which is used almost exclusively in the phrase "It is incumbent upon X to . . . ." So, if we are behooved to improve our speech as much as possible, it is incumbent upon us to do so, as well. Anything behooveful is beneficial, as honesty is behooveful in most cases. In parts of Britain, you have the option of ignoring one of the Os and say behove.
In Play: Anything that dissuades us from activity produces languor: "Buck Shott's natural repugnance to physical labor was well suited for the languor that settled in over his Alabama farm in summer." Otherwise, this Good Word implies wistfulness and just the hint of regret: "William Arami has been foundering in a deep languor ever since Mary Dagai refused his proposal of matrimony." The languor of a cool, windless summer evening is familiar to all of us who live in the country.
Word History: Today's word is an English original from Old English behofian from a Germanic compound bi-hof "obligation." The original root meant "grasp, seize", similar to the ligature (binding) implied in the word obligation. In the Germanic languages it went on to indicate possession in such words as have. In Latin it appears in capere "to seize". This verb's past participle, captus, underlies English capture and captive. In Old French this verb became cachier "to chase", a verb English reworked into catch. (It now behooves us all to thank Loren Baldwin for suggesting today's rather unusual Good Word.)
BEHOOVE
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BEHOOVE
Last edited by Dr. Goodword on Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: BEHOOVE
Would that be "behoof?"• behoove •
Pronunciation: bee-huv • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, transitive
Meaning: No, this isn't what the blacksmith does. ...
"Do farriers work with shoddy merchandise?"
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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