beccus

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-, *baḱ- (“pointed stick, peg”). If so, then cognate with Middle English pegge (“peg”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈbek.kus/, [ˈbɛkːʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbek.kus/, [ˈbɛkːus]

Noun

beccus m (genitive beccī); second declension

1. beak, bill (especially of a cock)

   Synonym: (more common) rōstrum

References

• “beccus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "beccus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• beccus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.