What is "bel"

Bel \Bel\, n. The Babylonian name of the god known among the Hebrews as Baal. See Baal.
--Baruch vi. 41.

Bel \Bel\ (b[e^]l), n. [Hind., fr. Skr. bilva.] A thorny rutaceous tree ( [AE]gle marmelos) of India, and its aromatic, orange-like fruit; -- called also Bengal quince, golden apple, wood apple. The fruit is used medicinally, and the rind yields a perfume and a yellow dye.

Bel \Bel\ (b[e^]l), n. [from Alexander Graham Bell.] a unit of sound intensity equal to ten decibels.

heaven-and-earth god of Babylonian religion, from Akkadian Belu, literally "lord, owner, master," cognate with Hebrew ba'al.

unit of power level in measuring sound, 1929, named for Scottish-born telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922).

"beautiful," early 14c., from Old French bel, belle "beautiful, fair, fine" (see belle). "Naturalized in ME.; but after 1600 consciously French" [OED].

Etymology 1 n. A measure of relative power, defined as log₁₀(P ₁/P ₂), where P₁ and P₂ are the measured and reference power respectively. See also decibel. Etymology 2

n. (alt form bael English) (qualifier Indian tree English)

1. n. a logarithmic unit of sound intensity equal to 10 decibels [syn: B]

2. Babylonian god of the earth; one of the supreme triad including Anu and Ea; earlier identified with En-lil

BEL can be an abbreviation for:

• The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for Belgium
• BEL or bell character in the C0 control code set
• Belarusian language, in the ISO 639-2 and SIL country code lists
• Bharat Electronics Limited
• Bellingham (Amtrak station), Washington, United States; Amtrak station code BEL
• Behind Enemy Lines (disambiguation)
• Val de Cães International Airport 3-letter IATA airport code in Belém, Brazil
• The ICAO code for Brussels Airlines, a Belgian airline.
• Biological Expression Language

Bel (; from Akkadian bēlu), signifying "lord" or "master", is a title rather than a genuine name, applied to various gods in the Mesopotamian religion of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia. The feminine form is Belit 'Lady, Mistress'. Bel is represented in Greek as Belos and in Latin as Belus. Linguistically Bel is an East Semitic form cognate with Northwest Semitic Baal with the same meaning.

Early translators of Akkadian believed that the ideogram for the god called in Sumerian Enlil was to be read as Bel in Akkadian. This is now known to be incorrect; but one finds Bel used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions.

Bel became especially used of the Babylonian god Marduk and when found in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in a Mesopotamian context it can usually be taken as referring to Marduk and no other god. Similarly Belit without some disambiguation mostly refers to Bel Marduk's spouse Sarpanit. However Marduk's mother, the Sumerian goddess called Ninhursag, Damkina, Ninmah and other names in Sumerian, was often known as Belit-ili 'Lady of the Gods' in Akkadian.

Of course other gods called "Lord" could be and sometimes were identified totally or in part with Bel Marduk. The god Malak-bel of Palmyra is an example, though in the later period from which most of our information comes he seems to have become very much a sun god.

Similarly Zeus Belus mentioned by Sanchuniathon as born to Cronus/ El in Peraea is certainly most unlikely to be Marduk.

Bel was believed to be a patriarch from Armenia, somehow related to Hayk (the supreme God for ancient armenians) - the story tells they were brothers, but they may probably have been cousins. According to the myth, Hayk and Bel were both patriarchs of their own tribes, competing for supremacy. Hayk beat Bel, so the latter chose to go south to Babylon, and established himself there, became powerful again and lead his forces to avenge his previous defeat against Hayk. Somewhere near Van, the ancient capital of urartian Armenia, a final battle took place between the siblings. Hayk beat Bel with an arrow, and thus became the sole leader. He unified the tribes, that altogether took the name Armenia (in armenian, Hayastan, after Hayk).

Bel is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:

• Clyde F. Bel, Jr. (c. 1932 – 2014), American politician
• Eógan Bél (died 542), a king of Connacht (in what is now Ireland)
• Jean Le Bel (c. 1290 – 1370), medieval Flemish chronicler
• Joseph Achille Le Bel (1847–1930), French chemist
• Matthias Bel (1684–1749), Hungarian scholar, polymath and Lutheran pastor
• Jules Bel (1842-1904), French cheese maker
• Bel Kaufman (1911–2014), American teacher and author, best known for writing the novel Up the Down Staircase
• Bel Mooney (born 1946), English journalist and broadcaster
• Bel Powley, British actress

Fictional characters:

• Bel Arvardan, in Isaac Asimov's novel Pebble in the Sky
• Bel Riose, in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series
• Bel (Dungeons & Dragons), lord of the first of The Nine Hells, in Dungeons and Dragons games