BEÓR

m. I. BEER, nourishing or strong drink; cerevisia, sicera. Beer, made from malted barley, was the favourite drink of the Anglo-Saxons. In their drinking parties, they pledged each other in large cups, round at the bottom, which must be emptied before they could be laid down, hence perhaps the name of a tumbler. We are speaking of the earliest times, for beer is mentioned in Beowulf :-- Gebeótedon beóre druncne oret-mecgas, ðæt hie in beór-sele bídan woldon Grendles gúðe the sons of conflict, drunk with beer, promised that they would await in the beer-hall the attack of Grendel, Beo. Th. 965; B. 480. Æt beóre at the beer, 4088; B. 2041. Beer was the common drink of the Anglo-Saxons, hence a convivial party was called Gebeórscipe, q. v : a place of entertainment, beórsele a beer-hall, or beórtún a beerenclosure. Hence also the other compounds, as beór-scealc a beer-server, beór-setl a beer-bench or SETTLE, and beór-þegu a beer-serving. The following remark seems to be as applicable to the Anglo-Saxons as to the Icelanders, - Öl heitir með mönnum, en með Ásum bjór ale is called, by men and by gods, BEER, Alvismál. - Beóre druncen drunk with beer, Beo. Th. 1066; B. 531 : Exon. 72 b; Th. 271, 22; Jul. 486. He ne drincþ wín ne beór vinum et siceram non bibet, Lk. Bos. 1, 15 : Deut. 14, 26. Ðæt mon geselle twelf seoxtres beóras that they give twelve sesters of beer, Th. Diplm. A. D. 901-909; 158, 22. II. a beverage made of honey and water, mead; metheglin, hydromeli, ĭtis, n. = υtonos;δρόμελι, ydromellum, mulsum :-- Beór ydromellum, Ælfc. Gl. 32; Som. 61, 114; Wrt. Voc. 27, 43. Beór mulsum, Ælfc. Gl. 32; Som. 61, 118; Wrt. Voc. 27, 46. [Plat. beer, n : Frs. biar, n : Dut. Ger. bier, n : Icel. bjór, bjórr, m : O. H. Ger. pier, n : Sansk. pā to drink.] DER. beór-hyrde, -scealc, -scipe, -sele, -setl, -þegu, -tún : gebeór, -scípe. beor