Bête (from the
French ''bête'' [] = "beast", "dumb animal" or "brute"
), Labet or the Germanised Bete and (Low German) Beet, is a term used in certain card games for a penalty payment e.g. for failing to take the minimum number of tricks, or for a stake or money which a player has lost.
In
trick-taking game
A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...
, such as
Mistigri and
Kauflabet
Kauflabet or Kauf-Labet is an historical German trick-taking card game for three to five players that was popular within women's circles.Corvinus (1739), pp. 852–853.
History
According to von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, Kauf-Labet is recorded as e ...
, the player who has failed to win a single trick is "bête" or "the Bête".
Likewise in
Mauscheln
Mauscheln, also Maus or Vierblatt, is a gambling card game that resembles Tippen, which is commonly played in Germany and the countries of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Background Origin of the name
The name Mauscheln means something like ...
, if the declarer, or ''Mauschler'', fails to win a trick, he is called the ''Mauschlerbete''.
The word is used with verbs in phrases that have further meanings:
* Bête sein ("to be
beast") – to have lost a game
* Bête machen ("to make
beast") - to bet or bid
* Bête ziehen – ("to draw
beast") - to win a card game
* Pott Beet - Low German for having lost badly e.g. without winning a single trick.
The name is derived from the historical French card game of
Bête
Bête, la Bête (french: Jeu de la Bête), Beste or la Beste (''Jeu de la Beste''), originally known as Homme or l'Homme (''Jeu de l'Homme''), was an old, French, trick-taking card game, usually for three to five players. It was a derivative of Tr ...
where it referred to the stake and the penalty for losing. ''Labet'' is another name for the card game of
Tippen
Tippen, also known as Dreiblatt, Dreikart, Drei Karten, Dreekort, Kleinpréférence or Labet, is an historical Germany, German 3-card, plain-trick game which was popular as a gambling game for three or more players. The Danish version of the game w ...
and ''Bête'' also came to be a synonym for the card game of
Mouche.
Footnotes
References
[â]
Bete
€œ In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Band 2. Leipzig 1905, S. 765.
[â]
Mistigri
€œ In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Band 13. Leipzig 1908, S. 907.
See also
*
List of German words of French origin
This is a list of German words and expressions of French origin. Some of them were borrowed in medieval times, some were introduced by Huguenot immigrants in the 17th and 18th centuries and others have been borrowed in the 19th and 20th centuries. ...
Card game terminology
French words and phrases
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