Wikipedia
Beith is a small town situated in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "Hill o' Beith" (hill of the birches) after its Court Hill.
Beith is the Irish name of the first letter of the Ogham alphabet, ᚁ, meaning " birch". In Old Irish, the letter name was Beithe, which is related to Welsh bedw(en), Breton bezv(enn), and Latin betula. Its Proto-Indo-European root was *gʷet- 'resin, gum'. Its phonetic value is .
The Auraicept na n-Éces contains the tale of the mythological origins of Beith
In the medieval kennings, the verses associated with Beith are:
Féocos foltchaín: "Withered foot with fine hair" (Word Ogham of Morann mic Moín) Glaisem cnis: "Greyest of skin" (Word Ogham of Mac ind Óc) Maise malach: "Beauty of the eyebrow" (Word Ogham of Culainn)Peith ᚚ, a late addition to the Forfeda, is a variant of Beith, with a phonetic value of [p], also called beithe bog "soft beithe", being considered a "soft" variant of . It likely replaced Ifín ᚘ, one of the "original" five Forfeda. Prior to the addition of the Forfeda to the original twenty letters, both and were probably symbolized by the same letter: Beith.
Beith is a surname. Notable people with the name include:
- Sir Alan Beith (born 1943), British politician
- Alexander Beith (1799–1891), Scottish divine and author
- Gilbert Beith (1827–1904), Scottish merchant and politician
- Jackie Beith (1893–1961), Australian rugby union player
- Sir John Beith (1914–2000), British diplomat
- Major-General John Hay Beith (1876–1952), British schoolmaster, soldier and writer using the name Ian Hay
- Robert Beith (1843–1922), Canadian politician