# μπετό



## modus.irrealis

Hi,

Not having much to do, I was watching Είσαι πιο έξυπνος από ένα δεκάχρονο; with my grandparents and one of the questions was basically about what you call the mixture of τσιμέντο, χαλίκια, νερό, αμμό. Even I was able to guess μπετό and that was the answer given by the contestant which ended up being wrong with the correct answer being σκυρόδεμα, and the host there basically said that the contestant's answer "δεν είναι ελληνική λέξη", which really confused me at first and made me go check dictionaries and google results and stuff but that made me even more confused because it clearly is a Greek word.

So, is μπετό (or μπετόν) not commonly used any more, or did they really mean that it's not a "Greek enough" word for a game show? (And instead of winning 50 000, she dropped down to 5 000, so I'm very angry on her behalf for being ripped off on such a pointless technicality ).


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## balgior

Hello modus.irrealis! 



> the host there basically said that the contestant's answer "δεν είναι ελληνική λέξη", which really confused me at first and made me go check dictionaries and google results and stuff but that made me even more confused because it clearly is a Greek word.


Is it? I've always thought of it as a French one and, as a matter of fact the online dictionary (the only one available right now) seems to confirm this:


> *μπετόν* το [betón] O (άκλ.) & (προφ.) *μπετό *το [betó] O38 *:* μείγμα από τσιμέντο, άμμο, χαλίκια και νερό, που χρησιμοποιείται ως οικοδομικό υλικό· σκυρόδεμα: _Δάπεδο από _~. || μπετόν αρμέ: _Tοίχος / δοκάρι / κολόνα / ταράτσα από _~. _Θεόρατα κτίρια από _~ _και γυαλί. _|| (προφ., πληθ.) κατασκευές από μπετόν: _Δουλεύει στα μπετά. Tο κτίριο βρίσκεται στα μπετά, _έχει κατασκευαστεί μόνο ο σκελετός του από μπετόν.  [λόγ. < γαλλ. béton_· _λαϊκή μορφολ. και φωνολ. προσαρμ.]



And I cannot imagine where this word would originate from, if it was a Greek one. At least, for "σκυρόδεμα" things are clear! It is a very common one, though, even more than "σκυρόδεμα"!


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## modus.irrealis

balgior said:


> Is it? I've always thought of it as a French one and, as a matter of fact the online dictionary (the only one available right now) seems to confirm this:


Oh, I don't disagree that it has a French origin, but I guess that for me, if it's generally used by Greek speakers (to the degree that it's listed in the dictionary, and in fact, I checked my Greek-English dictionary and for "concrete" it only has μπετόν and it doesn't even list σκυρόδεμα on the Greek side), then it's a Greek word. I mean, to take an extreme case, is σπίτι not a Greek word?

But don't mind me -- I'm just upset at the whole injustice here .



balgior said:


> It is a very common one, though, even more than "σκυρόδεμα"!


Thanks. Do you know whether μπετό or μπετόν is more common?


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## balgior

> But don't mind me -- I'm just upset at the whole injustice here .


 Well, don't expect much more from such a show! 


> Thanks. Do you know whether μπετό or μπετόν is more common?


Hard to say... First of all I believe that "σκυρόδεμα" and "μπετόν" are equal when used in a somewhat more scientific sense. "Μπετό" is way too "indelicate" to be considered "scientific" , but that can't restrain one from using it. But outside this scope, I think that "μπετό" is much more common in every-day language. It even has a beautiful, indelicate plural : Η οικοδομή βρίσκεται ακόμη στα μπετά (we're still constructing the concrete part of the building).


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## ireney

If it's on the dictionaries it is part of the Greek language if you ask me  We've even created a derivative from it, μπετατζής. I guess it's wrong to say "γκολ" when someone scores  in i.e. football/soccer according to this show. But then it has happened in other shows again: They have one answer in mind and you just have to give that one. The fact that it is indeed not the official name shouldn't have mattered in such a case.


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## wonderment

modus.irrealis said:


> Oh, I don't disagree that it has a French origin, but I guess that for me, if it's generally used by Greek speakers (to the degree that it's listed in the dictionary, and in fact, I checked my Greek-English dictionary and for "concrete" it only has μπετόν and it doesn't even list σκυρόδεμα on the Greek side), then it's a Greek word. I mean, to take an extreme case, is σπίτι not a Greek word?
> 
> But don't mind me -- I'm just upset at the whole injustice here .


That is the way of the world, but it need not be the way of you.  Maybe μπετό is not “Greek enough”..._yet_. Is it a relatively ‘recent’ borrowing compared to the ‘ancient’ adoption of σπίτι (from Latin _hospitium_)? Is there a way to check when μπετό entered the modern Greek lexicon?



balgior said:


> And I cannot imagine where this word would originate from, if it was a Greek one.


Greek μπετό < French _béton_ < Latin _bitumen _(asphalt)


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## Vagabond

ireney said:


> If it's on the dictionaries it is part of the Greek language if you ask me  We've even created a derivative from it, μπετατζής.


Couldn't agree more.


> I guess it's wrong to say "γκολ" when someone scores in i.e. football/soccer according to this show.


Βάλλει ο Μπασινάς, και... ΣΤΟΧΟΣ!!!!! 


> But then it has happened in other shows again: They have one answer in mind and you just have to give that one.


Oh, if only it was just shows... I've had arguments with language teachers before, because they wanted to take points off my tests for such reasons (I won ).

Μπετό and μπετόν are both perfectly fine, and much, much more widely used in everyday speech than σκυρόδεμα. Perhaps μπετό is more widespread nowadays than μπετόν, with the exeption of μπετόν αρμέ (ενισχυμένο σκυρόδεμα I guess, according to that show ). The contestant should have informed the host that his/her Greek sucks.


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## balgior

> Βάλλει ο Μπασινάς, και... ΣΤΟΧΟΣ!!!!!


OYOYOY!  Κουρέλες! 


> Μπετό and μπετόν are both perfectly fine, and much, much more widely used in everyday speech than σκυρόδεμα.





> Perhaps μπετό is more widespread nowadays than μπετόν, with the exeption of μπετόν αρμέ





> (ενισχυμένο σκυρόδεμα I guess, according to that show ).


Or "οπλισμένο σκυρόδεμα", or even "ωπλισμένο σκυρόδεμα" , στα παλαιομοδίτικα (χρησιμοποιείται ακόμη αρκετά αυτός ο τελευταίος τύπος)!


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