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Words related to bel
Baal late 14c., Biblical, from Late Latin Baal, Greek Baal, from Hebrew Ba'al, literally "owner, master, lord," a title applied to any deity (including Jehovah; see Hosea ii.16), but later a name of a particular Semitic solar deity worshipped licentiously by the Phoenecians and Carthaginians; from ba'al "he took possession of," also "he married;" related to or derived from the Akkadian god-name Belu (source of Hebrew Bel), name of Marduk. Identical with the first element in Beelzebub and the second in Hannibal ("grace of Baal"), Hasdrubal ("help of Baal"). The name has been used figuratively in English for any "false god."
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belle (n.)"beautiful woman well-dressed; reigning beauty," 1620s, from French belle, from Old French bele, from Latin bella, fem. of bellus "beautiful, fair," from PIE *dwenelo-, diminutive form of root *deu- (2) "to do, perform; show favor, revere." "The dim. meaning is the reason why bellus was originally used to refer to women and children; it was applied to men only ironically" [de Vaan].
decibel (n.)
Progress in science and industry is constantly demanding new terms and one of the latest of these is the word "decibel," coined by telephone engineers to describe the efficiency of telephone circuits. It is a substitute for the phrase "transmission unit." The actual unit decided upon was first called "bel," after the inventor of the telephone. The bel, however, is larger than is needed in practice, and, therefore, a unit one-tenth as large was adopted by engineers and named the decibel. [Popular Mechanics, May 1929]
Belshazzar last Chaldean king of Babylon (Daniel v), from Hebrew Belshatztzar, a contraction of Akkadian Bel-shar-usur, literally "Bel-protect-the-king" (see Bel).
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