Online Etymology Dictionary

Bel: heaven-and-earth god of Babylonian religion, from Akkad. Belu, lit. "lord, owner, master," cognate with Heb. ba'al.
bel canto: 1894, from It., lit. "fine song."
bel paese: type of mild, creamy cheese, 1935, It. proprietary name, lit. "beautiful country or region."
belabor: c.1600, "to exert one's strength upon," from be- + labor. But figurative sense of "assail with words" is attested somewhat earlier (1590s).
belabour: British spelling of belabor (q.v.); for suffix, see -or.
belated: 1610s, "overtaken by night," pp. adj. from belate "to make late, detain," from be- + late. Sense of "coming past due, behind date" is from 1660s. Related: Belatedly.
belay: O.E. bilecgan, among other senses, "to lay a thing about" (with other objects), from be- + lecgan "to lay" (see lay). The only surviving sense is the nautical one of "coil a running rope round a cleat or pin to secure it" (also transferred to mountain-climbing), first attested 1540s; but this is possibly a cognate word, from Du. beleggen.
belch (v.): O.E. bealcan "bring up wind from the stomach," also "swell, heave," of echoic origin (cf. Du. balken "to bray, shout"). Extended to volcanoes, cannons, etc. 1570s. It is recorded in 1706 as a slang noun meaning "poor beer."
beldam: "aged woman," 1570s; earlier "grandmother" (mid-15c.), from dame (q.v.) in the sense of "mother" + bel-, M.E. prefix expressing relationship (cf. belfader, belsire "grandfather"), from O.Fr. bel, belle "beautiful, fair, fine." This "direct relationship" sense of bel is not found in French, where the prefix is used to form words for in-laws.
beleaguer: 1580s, from Du. belegeren "to besiege," from be- "around" + legeren "to camp," from leger "bed, camp, army, lair," from P.Gmc. *leg-raz-, from PIE *legh-to- "lie" (see lie (v.2)). A word from the Flemish Wars. Spelling influenced by league. Related: Beleaguered.
beleave: O.E. belæfan, "to cause or allow to remain behind, to leave something behind," a general Gmc. compound (cf. Goth. bilaibjan) from be- + O.E. læfan "to leave" (see leave (v.)). In M.E. sometimes contracted to bleve. For further development, see belive.
belfry: late 13c., "siege tower," from O.N.Fr. berfroi "movable siege tower" (Mod.Fr. beffroi), from M.H.G. bercfrit "protecting shelter," lit. "that which watches over peace," from bergen "to protect" + frid "peace." Originally a wooden siege tower on wheels ("free" to move); it came to be used for chime towers (mid-15c.), which at first often were detached from church buildings (as the Campanile on Plaza San Marco in Venice). Spelling altered by association with bell.
Belgian: 1620s, in reference to the ancient Belgæ (see Belgium). Belgian Congo formed 1908 by annexation.
Belgium: c.1600, "Low Germany and the Netherlands," from L. name of the territory occupied by the Belgæ, a Celtic tribe. Adopted 1830 as the name of a new nation formed from the southern part of the former United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Belial: early 13c., from Heb. bel'yya'al "destruction," lit. "worthless," from b'li "without" + ya'al "use." Wickedness as an evil force (Deut. xiii.13); later treated as a proper name for Satan (2 Cor. vi.15), though Milton made him one of the fallen angels.
belie: O.E. beleogan "to deceive by lies," from be- + lie (v.1) "to lie, tell lies." Current sense of "to contradict as a lie" is first recorded 1640s. The other verb lie once also had a formation like this, from O.E. belicgan, which meant "to encompass, beleaguer," and in M.E. was a euphemism for "to have sex with" (i.e. "to lie with carnally").
belief: late 12c., replaced O.E. geleafa "belief, faith," from W.Gmc. *ga-laubon (cf. O.S. gilobo, M.Du. gelove, O.H.G. giloubo, Ger. glaube), from *galaub- "dear, esteemed." The prefix was altered on analogy of the verb believe. The distinction of the final consonant from that of believe developed 15c. Belief used to mean "trust in God," while faith meant "loyalty to a person based on promise or duty" (a sense preserved in keep one's faith, in good (or bad) faith and in common usage of faithful, faithless, which contain no notion of divinity). But faith, as cognate of L. fides, took on the religious sense beginning in 14c. translations, and belief had by 16c. become limited to "mental acceptance of something as true," from the religious use in the sense of "things held to be true as a matter of religious doctrine" (early 13c.).
believable: late 14c., from believe + -able.
believe: O.E. belyfan "to believe," earlier geleafa (Mercian), gelefa (Northumbrian), gelyfan (W.Saxon) "believe," from P.Gmc. *ga-laubjan "hold dear, love" (cf. O.S. gilobian, Du. geloven, O.H.G. gilouben, Ger. glauben), from PIE base *leubh- "to like, desire" (see love). Spelling beleeve is common till 17c.; then altered perhaps by influence of relieve. To believe on instead of in was more common in 16c. but now is a peculiarity of theology; believe of also sometimes was used in 17c.
believer: "one who has faith in religion," 1540s, agent noun from believe (q.v.).
belittle: 1781, "to make small," from be- + little; first recorded in writings of Thomas Jefferson (and probably coined by him), who was roundly execrated for it in England:
"Belittle! What an expression! It may be an elegant one in Virginia, and even perfectly intelligible; but for our part, all we can do is to guess at its meaning. For shame, Mr. Jefferson!" ["European Magazine and London Review," 1787, reporting on "Notes on the State of Virginia"; to guess was considered another barbarous Yankeeism.]
The figurative sense of "depreciate, scorn as worthless" (as the reviewers did to this word) is from 1797.
belive: O.E. belifan "remain," intrans. form of belæfan (see beleave); general Gmc. (cf. Goth. beleiban, O.H.G. biliban, Ger. bleiben, Du. blijven); confused in early M.E. with beleave and merged into it, which gave beleave a double and conflicting meaning ("to leave," also "to remain") which might be why the compound word, the cognate of important verbs in other Germanic languages, was abandoned in English and only leave (v.) remains.
bell: O.E. belle, common North Sea Gmc. (cf. M.Du. belle, M.L.G. belle) but not found elsewhere in Gmc. (except as a borrowing), from PIE base *bhel- "to sound, roar." Statistical bell curve was coined 1870s in French. Bell, book, and candle is a reference to a form of excommunication. To ring a bell "awaken a memory," 1934, is perhaps a reference to Pavlovian experiments.
bell bottoms: type of trousers, 1890, from bell + bottom.
Bella: fem. proper name, from It. bella "fair," from L. bella, fem. of bellus "beautiful, fair" (see beau).
belladonna: 1590s, "deadly nightshade" (Atropa belladonna), from It., lit. "fair lady," supposedly because women made cosmetic eye-drops from its juice (it has a well-known property of dilating the pupils) or because it was used to poison beautiful women.
Bellatrix: bright star in the left shoulder of Orion, from L. bellatrix "a female warrior," fem. of bellator "to wage war," from bellum "war."
bellboy: from bell + boy; originally (1851) a ship's bell-ringer, later (1861) a hotel page.
belle: "beautiful woman well-dressed; reigning beauty," 1620s, from Fr. belle, from O.Fr. bele, from L. bella, fem. of bellus "beautiful, fair."
Bellerophon: Gk. hero, from L. form of Gk. Bellerophontes, probably lit. "killer of the demon Bellerus," from -phontes "killer of."
belles-lettres: "elegant literature, aesthetics," 1710, from Fr., lit. "fine letters," from belles, pl. of belle, fem. of beau "fine, beautiful" + lettres, pl. of lettre "letter." The literary equivalent of beaux arts.
belletrist: 1816, from belles-lettres. Adj. belletristic is recorded from 1821.
bellhop: 1910, Amer.Eng., shortening of bellhopper (1900), from bell + hop (v.). The notion is one who "hops" into action when the bell is rung.
bellicose: 1432, from L. bellicosus, from bellicus "of war," from bellum "war." Bellona was the name of the Roman goddess of war. Bellicosity is recorded from 1884.
belligerent (adj.): 1577, from L. belligerantem (nom. belligerans), pp. of belligerare "to wage war," from bellum "war" + gerere "to wage." The noun meaning "party or nation at war" is from 1811. Belligerence is recorded from 1814; belligerency from 1863.
bellow: O.E. bylgian "to bellow," from PIE base *bhel- "to sound, roar." Originally of animals, especially cows and bulls, used of human beings since c.1600.
bellowing (n.): 1393, from bellow (v.). As a pp. adj., recorded from 1618.
bellows: c.1200, belwes pl. of belu, belw, northern form of beli, from late O.E. belg, reduced from blæstbælg, lit. "blowing bag" (see belly). Used exclusively in plural since 15c.
bellwether: c.1440, from bell + wether; the lead sheep (on whose neck a bell was hung) of a domesticated flock; used earlier in the fig. sense of "chief, leader" (c.1430).
belly: O.E. belg, bylg (W.Saxon), bælg (Anglian) "leather bag, purse, bellows," from P.Gmc. *balgiz "bag" (cf. O.N. belgr "bag, bellows," bylgja "billow," Goth. balgs "wineskin"), from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell," extension of root *bhel- "to inflate, swell" (see bole). Meaning shifted to "body" (late 13c.), then to "abdomen" (mid-14c.). Meaning "bulging part or concave surface of anything" is 1590s; the verb "to swell out" is from 1620s. The W.Gmc. root had an extended sense of "anger, arrogance" (cf. O.E. bolgenmod "enraged;" belgan (v.) "to become angry"). Fastidious avoidance of belly in speech and writing (replaced by imported stomach and abdomen) began late 18c. and the word was banished from Bibles in many early 19c. editions.
belly button: "navel," 1877, colloquial, from belly + button. Also bellybutton, belly-button.
belly dance: also bellydance, 1883 (n.), from belly + dance, in later uses translating Fr. danse du ventre. As a verb, 20c.
bellyache (n.): also belly-ache, 1592, from belly + ache. The verb in the slang sense of "complain" is first recorded 1888, Amer.Eng.
bellyful: "enough and more," 1530s, from belly + -ful. Older than the literal sense (1570s).
belong: mid-14c., "to go along with, relate to," from be- intensive prefix, + O.E. langian "pertain to, to go along with." Sense of "to be the property of" first recorded late 14c. Replaced earlier O.E. gelang, with completive prefix ge-.
belongings: "goods, effects, possessions," 1817, from belong.
beloved: late 14c. (adj.), from pp. of v. belove (c.1200), from be- + loven "to love." Noun meaning "one who is beloved" is from 1520s.
below: early 14c., biloogh, from be- "by" + logh, lou, lowe "low." Apparently a variant of earlier a-lowe (influenced by other advs. in be-, cf. before), the parallel form to an-high (now on high). Beneath was the usual word; below was very rare in M.E. and only gained currency in 16c. It is frequent in Shakespeare. Below is the opposite of above and concerns difference of level and suggests comparison of independent things. Under is the opposite of over and is concerned with superposition and subjection and suggests some interrelation.
Belshazzar: last Chaldean king of Babylon (Dan. v), from Heb. Belshatztzar, a contraction of Akkad. Bel-shar-usur, lit. "Bel-protect-the-king" (see Bel).
belt: O.E. belt, from P.Gmc. *baltjaz (cf. O.H.G. balz, O.N. balti, Swed. bälte), an early borrowing from L. balteus "girdle, sword belt," said by Varro to be an Etruscan word. As a mark of rank or distinction, c.1340; references to boxing championship belts date from 1812. Transferred sense of "broad stripe encircling something" is from 1664; verb meaning "to thrash as with a belt" is from 1649; general sense of "to hit, thrash" is attested from 1838. Below the belt "unfair" (1889) is from pugilism. To get something under (one's) belt is to get it into one's stomach.