The corpus record — Latin

bes

bes · m

Two thirds of a unit

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Technopaegnion 1 · 6.73/10k
De Inventione 1 · 0.3/10k
De Architectura 1 · 0.17/10k
Res Rustica, Books I-IX 1 · 0.13/10k

What it meant

1. bes — Lewis & Short

bes, bessis, m. (

nom. bessis, Paul. ex Fest. p. 33 Müll.; Prisc. Ponder. p. 1348 P.) [be-is = binae partes assis].

I Two thirds of a unit (the as); eight unciae, or twelfths (cf. as): bessis octo sunt unciae (8/12 = 2/3), triens quattuor, Paul. ex Fest. l. l.

A As a coin: fenus ex triente Idib. Quint. factum erat bessibus, i. e. instead of the previous monthly interest of 1/3 %, 2/3 % was now reckoned; thus, acc. to the present mode of calculating, for the year, the interest advanced from 4 % (12X1/3) to 8 % (12X2/3), * Cic. Att. 4, 15, 7.—

B In gen., two thirds of any whole.

1 Of shares in a partnership: Nerva constituit, ut tu ex triente socius esses, ego ex besse, Dig. 17, 2, 76.—

2 Of a sum of money: exsolvere bessem pretii, Dig. 17, 1, 12.—

3 Of a tract of land: emere bessem fundi, Dig. 16, 21, 2, § 39: bisque novem, Nemeaee, dabis, bessemque (i. e. eight months) sub illis, Manil. 3, 367.—

4 Of a jugerum: partes duae tertiae pedes decem novem milia et ducentos, hoc est bes, in quo sunt scripula CXCII., Col. 5, 1, 11.—

5 Of a measure of capacity: bes sextarii, Scrib. Comp. 126.—

6 Of a pound, = 8 ounces: in binos semodios farinae satis esse bessem fermenti, Plin. 18, 11, 26, § 102; Scrib. Comp. 157.—

7 Of an inheritance: heres ex besse, Plin. Ep. 7, 24, 2.—

C Meton. for eight: quincunces et sex cyathos bessemque bibamus, Caïus ut fiat Julius et Proculus (i. e. so many letters were comprised in these names; cf. 1. bibo, 2. e.), Mart. 11, 36, 7 and 8.—

D Bes alter = (12+8)/12 = 1 2/3, Fest. s. v. triens, p. 363 Müll.—

II In mathematics, where the cardinal number is six (cf. as !*?), bes = 4, Gr. di/moiros, Vitr. 3, 1, p. 61 Rod. and bes alter = (6+4)/6 = 1 2/3, Gr. e)pidi/moiros, id. ib.

2. bes — Walde–Hofmann

bes (d. i. bess), bessis m. „zwei Drittel eines zwölfteiligen Ganzen“ (vgl. Varro 1.1.5, 172, seit Lex Puteol., sptl. bessts nach assis neben as; bésális „®ıs oder ?/s umfassend“ seit Vitr.): wegen der Bed. aus *duo assis) „duae partes assis* über *duass, *duess, *duess mit abnormer Lautkürzung infolge Funktionslosigkeit wie in dödräns (Pier RFCI. 34, 417 f., Juret MSL. 20, 155); unrichtig Brugmann Grdr. I? 183. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. bes, p. 133]

In the wild

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. bés (scan p. 93; entry #1237).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. bes (scan pp. 133-134; entry #392).

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.