Sc. and north. dial. Forms: 4 bene, 5– ben. [Appears first in 14th c. There is no cognate in Scand. languages; so that it must be a dial. variant of ME. binne, BIN ‘within’:—OE. binnan, cogn. w. Du., Ger. binnen.]
A. adv. Within, towards the inner part; esp. in or into an inner part of the house relatively, in or into the inner part absolutely; into the parlor, etc., from the kitchen; in the parlor or chamber.
The words but and ben have special reference to the structure of dwelling houses formerly prevalent in the north, in which there was only one outer door, so that it was usual to enter through the kitchen into the parlor, and through the latter to an inner chamber, bedroom, or the like. In reference to the kitchen, the two latter rooms are ben and far-ben, respectively; they constitute the ben-end of the house: in reference to the parlor, the kitchen is but, or but the house, or the but end. These phrases are retained even in more modern houses, where the parlor has a separate entrance: ‘go but’ = ‘go into the kitchen’; ‘como ben’ = come into the parlor, etc. Also apartments on opposite sides of a passage are said to be but and ben with each other, though neither is farther out or farther in than the other: come ben, go but are then used of either. Their occupants are said to live but and ben with each other.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. x. 39. Hyr cors þai tuk wp, & bare ben.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 271. Intumulat … Ben in the queir.
1686. G. Stuart, Joco-ser. Disc., 35. When doors stand open, dogs come ben.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xv. Baby [= Barbara], bring ben the tea-water … and we’ll steek the shop, and cry ben … and take a hand at the cartes.
1865. J. Groves, in Harland, Lanc. Lyrics, 128. Come ben, an’ shelter frae the storm.
b. Phrases: But and ben: in the outer and inner apartment, in both (or all) parts of the house. To live but and ben with: see above. Far ben: far within, in the innermost chamber; fig. admitted beyond the ante-room, or to special intimacy or favor, ‘far in.’ O’er far ben: too intimate.
c. 1375. ? Barbour, St. Barthol., 22. Þe tempil … Wes fillit ful, but & bene.
c. 1536. Lyndesay, Compl. Bagsche, 137. I was anis als far ben as ȝe ar, And had in Court als greit credence.
1632. Rutherford, Lett., 20 (1862), I. 83. Ye are … far ben in the palace of our Lord.
1786. Burns, Holy Fair, xviii. Now butt an’ ben the change-house fills.
1814. Scott, Wav., xlviii. I admit I could not be so far ben as you lads.
c. There-ben, corrupt. the-ben [cf. there-out], also ben-by (arch.): inside; = G. darinnen.
c. 1575. Rolland, Seuin Seages, Prol. For to bring but its ill thats not there ben.
1650. Vind. Hammond’s Addr., 22, note. That cannot be brought But, that is not the Ben.
1768. Ross, Helenore, 33 (Jam.). Your bed s’ be made the-ben.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Election, Poems (1845), 40. The coat ben-by, I’ the kist-nook … Is brought ance mair thereout.
B. prep. In or into the inner part of (a house)
1684. R. Law, Memorials, Pref. (1818), 60 (Jam.). Ye … bad the father and mother go ben the house a whylle.
1810. Tannahill, Cragie Lee, Poems (1846), 132. Far ben thy dark green planting’s shade.
1827. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 354. When ye gaed ben the house.
C. adj. Inner, interior: as in ben end, ben room. Compared benner, benmost.
1774. Fergusson, Poems (1789), II. 44 (Jam.). The benmost part o’ my kist nook.
1785. Poems in Buchan Dial., 34 (Jam.). Their benner pantries.
1818. Hogg, Brownie, II. 18 (Jam.). I was a free man i’ my ain ben-end.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xxviii. A door leading into the ben or inner chamber of the cottage.
D. sb. (Elliptical use of the adj.) The inner room.
1791–9. Statist. Acc. Scotl., XV. 339. The rent of a room and kitchen, or what … is stiled a but and a ben, gives at least two pounds sterling.
1807. Sir J. Carr, Caledon. Sk., 405 (Jam.). A tolerable hut is divided into three parts—a butt … a benn … and a byar, where the cattle are housed.
Mod. Sc. ‘Their house is a long low thatched cottage consisting of a but, a ben, and a far-ben.’
