- bequeath
- O.E. becweğan "to say, speak to, exhort, blame," also "leave by will;" from be- + cweğan "to say," from P.Gmc. *kwethanan, from PIE *gwel-. Original sense of "say, utter" died out 13c., leaving legal sense of "transfer by will." Closely related to bequest. "An old word kept alive in wills" [OED 1st ed.]. O.E. bequeğere meant "interpreter, translator."