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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BEHOVE, BEHOOVE, Behuv, Beheeve, v. To be incumbent on a person to do something. In Mod.Eng. gen. used impersonally since c.1500 but in Sc. the personal use is the more common. This is esp. noticed as a Scotticism by Beattie (1787), Sinclair (1792), Mitchell (1799) and Mackie (1881). [bɪ′hu:v gen.Sc. but bɪ′ho:v a literary pronunciation encouraged by the spelling; bɪ′hø:v, bɪ′hʌv m.Sc.; bɪ′hi:v ne.Sc.]Sc. 1729 Papers by Father Innes in Spalding Club Misc. (1842) II. 355:
Your Majesty will easily perceive . . . that I behooved to give the air of a bare historical fact, and treat as it were by the by, joined in with a great variety of other critical discussions.
Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xli.:
There was a young gentleman on the box, and he behuved to drive; and Tam Sang, that suld hae had mair sense, he behuved to let him.
Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 19:
On ilka hand, the hills were stay an' steep, An' shou'd she tak them, she behov'd to creep.
Abd.(D) 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xlv.:
Sir Seemon beheev't to be haud'n on the ill gate . . . b' them that ackit the pairt o' mere seecophants till 'im.
Fif. 1894 J. W. M'Laren Tibbie and Tam, To A' Concerned:
It behooves me to admit that ae nicht . . . it was suggested . . . that I micht wi' propriety collect his family documents.

[O.Sc. had u and o forms of this word and with f or v — e.g. behufe, behuife, behove. The word was used impersonally with and without it, and with a personal dative obj. followed gen. by an inf. O.Sc. lost the e (dative infl. of nouns) at an early period so that the distinction between the subj. and obj. was lost. The dative of the prons., him, her, etc., was replaced in time by he, she, etc. This change from impersonal to personal use occurred as early as Barbour (1375) and is still the most common usage in Sc. Behuve, etc., derive from O.E. be-, bi-hōfian. O.North. behōfiga, need, require. See Beheef. For contracted forms see Bude, Buist.]

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"Behove v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 29 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/behove>

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