Word of the Week Besot
besot \bih-SAHT\ verb1 : infatuate
2 : to make dull or stupid; especially : to muddle with drunkenness
The Story Behind the Word
Does the very sight of your darling leave you drunk with love this February? Consider yourself besotted. Our modern word "besot" developed from a combination of the prefix "be-" and "sot," a now obsolete word meaning "a habitual drunkard." "Sot" in turn comes from the Old English "sott," which was used as a noun meaning "fool" or "drunkard" and as a verb meaning "to stupefy." In its "infatuation" sense, "besot" is most often turned into a participial adjective, a role it is likely to play in literary musings on "besotted lovers." The first known use of "besotted" was in Sir Thomas North's 1580 translation of Plutarch's Lives, in which Antonius was described as "besotted by Cleopatra."
2 : to make dull or stupid; especially : to muddle with drunkenness
The Story Behind the Word
Does the very sight of your darling leave you drunk with love this February? Consider yourself besotted. Our modern word "besot" developed from a combination of the prefix "be-" and "sot," a now obsolete word meaning "a habitual drunkard." "Sot" in turn comes from the Old English "sott," which was used as a noun meaning "fool" or "drunkard" and as a verb meaning "to stupefy." In its "infatuation" sense, "besot" is most often turned into a participial adjective, a role it is likely to play in literary musings on "besotted lovers." The first known use of "besotted" was in Sir Thomas North's 1580 translation of Plutarch's Lives, in which Antonius was described as "besotted by Cleopatra."
posted by Cristi Wheaton @ 1:20 PM
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