(bētˈl-jo͞ozˌ, bĕtˈl-jœzˌ)
noun A bright-red intrinsic variable star, 527 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Orion.
Word History: The history of the curious star name
Betelgeuse is a good example of how scholarly errors can creep into language. The story starts with the pre-Islamic Arabic astronomers, who called the star
yad al-jawzā’, “hand of the
jawzā’.” The
jawzā’ was their name for the constellation Gemini. After Greek astronomy became known to the Arabs, the word came to be applied to the constellation Orion as well. Some centuries later, when scribes writing in Medieval Latin tried to render the word, they misread the
y as a
b (the two corresponding Arabic letters are very similar when used as the first letter in a word), leading to the Medieval Latin form
Bedalgeuze. In the Renaissance, another set of scholars trying to figure out the name interpreted the first syllable
bed- as being derived from a putative Arabic word
*bāṭ meaning “armpit.” This word did not exist; it would correctly have been
ibṭ. Nonetheless, the error stuck, and the resultant etymologically “improved” spelling
Betelgeuse was borrowed into French as
Bételgeuse, whence English
Betelgeuse.