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| The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo |
BEGET
Verb trans. Past tense begot, begat (archaic), present participle begetting, past participle begotten
[Old English begietan, corresp. Old Saxon bigetan seize, Old High German bigezzen receive = Gothic bigetan find]
1. archaic Get, acquire, esp. by effort. OE-E17
2. Procreate (usually said of the father, occasionally of both parents). ME
2B. Get with child. LME-E17
3. fig. Call into being, occasion; give rise to. L16
Beget is a funny word. It sounds oddly euphemistic, though it isn't. When the Bible says: "Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas," (and so forth for another fifteen verses of rampant begetting), it means exactly what it says, which is a far cry from the quintessential Biblical euphemism: "And Adam knew Eve."
Oh, and each time I've said to someone what I'm writing about, I've had to clarify: "No not baguette - beget."
When shortened, this one also serves an extremely useful epithet.
ReplyDeleteWoooooah! I did not know this, Nick! 'Git' is such a British expression too; useful because it's not too strong but not too soft. Nice : o )
DeleteAs far as mild Brit insults go, I found it more pleasant to learn the origin of "git" than "sod off". For some reason I had been thinking it was related to "sot", which would have been less homophobic and ugly and such.
DeleteI suppose one can't go avoiding all of the profanities which, when thought about, offend modern sensibilities. Eventually there wouldn't be any left. And that would be such a gyp.