Peter

[Larry Trask]

--On Thursday, March 29, 2001 9:13 am -0800 Gordon Brown
<gordonbr at microsoft.com> wrote:

> DGK's posting reminds me of a question I've had for quite a while.  In
> an article about Bede (Baeda), I saw a bibliographic reference that
> implied that the name Baeda might be somehow related to the name Peter.
> Is this possible?  In any case, does Baeda equate to any modern name?

According to the only source I have handy, which is not wholly reliable,
Bede's name is a derivative of Old English <bedu> 'asking, prayer', and is
therefore related to modern 'bead' and 'bid'.

I know of no modern form.  The first name that popped into my head was that
of Bid McPhee, the great 19th-century second baseman, who was voted into
the Baseball Hall of Fame last year.  However, on checking, I find that his
real name was John Alexander McPhee, and that 'Bid' was a shortening of
'Biddy', apparently a nickname conferred in those days on a player of
diminutive stature (McPhee was small).

Now, if someone will only tell me how the old-time third baseman Charles
'Piano Legs' Hickman acquired his nickname, I'll be a happy man.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk

Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad)
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