bes-representing OF.bes-:—L. bis ‘twice, at two times, in two ways, doubly’; in Romanic, also, with the sense of ‘secondarily, in an inferior way’; whence, with pejorative force, ‘improperly, unsymmetrically, not right or straight, awry, aslant.’ Found in Eng. as bes-, be-, bez-, in besage, besagew, besaiel, besantler, bestourn; beayel, beantler, belif, bevue; bezantler.