Beth

Occurs frequently as the appellation for a house, or dwelling-place, in such compounds as the words immediately following:

the most general word for a house or habitation. It has the special meaning of a temple or house of worship Beth is more frequently employed in compound names of places than any other word.

Beth (1)

bath (b): The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. With the daghesh it is transliterated in this dictionary as "b," and, without the daghesth, as "bh" ( = "v"). It came also to be used for the number two (2) and with the dieresis for 2,000. For name, etc., see ALPHABET; BAYITH.

Beth (2)

beth (in proper names; Greek transliteration in Septuagint, beth, baith, or beth): This is the English transliteration for the Hebrew beth, meaning "house," "tent," "place." It occurs in many compound proper names formed similarly to the method of compounding words in the German language, as shown in the articles immediately following. Thus we have beth `anath or `anoth = "house of replies" (Jos 19:38; Jud 1:33); beth'el = "house of God" (Ge 12:8; 13:3), etc. We also find the word in hybrid formations, e.g. Bethphage = Bethphage = "fig house" (Mt 21:1).

Frank E. Hirsch