Bé

From Almeopedia

The Lé word Bé [be24] has three related meanings:

• ‘Great’; cf. compounds like bésɛ̀ ‘great city, metropolis’.
• An ethnonym (derived of course from the first sense), encompassing all speakers of Beic languages, known to be isolating, tonal and largely monosylabic. As Lé has no plurals, we can speak of one Bé or many Bé.
• The land occupied by these people; that is, the northern, Beic-speaking cultural zone of Arcél. (There are some minor groups, mostly Linaminche, who are culturally but not linguistically Bé.)

The major Bé peoples, west to east, and their countries:

• The Pah of Pahsau, now a Kebreni colony
• The Łei of Łeisau
• The Mau of Mǎɔraŋ
• The Hao of Haoraŋ (eastern Mǎɔraŋ)
• The Lé of Belesao
• The Pàn of Pansao (upper Belesao)
• The Nér of Nérsao (eastern Belesao)
• The Mɔlɔ of Mɔlɔsɔu

The name Belesao is a compound of Bé + Lé (once a dynastic name, now an ethnic group) + sàɔ ‘country’; it's rather like the name of Saudi Arabia (which contains both name of the ethnic group and the ruling dynasty).

The religion of the Beic peoples is polytheistic. The distinctive feature of their world view is understanding of the universe as twofold, consisting of nɔŋǎ (spirit world) and dòŋǎ (world of mortals). The Bé are also known for their preference for female rulers, based on a belief that masculinity equals aggressiveness and low intelligence. In ancient Beic kingdoms, when a queen died, all her husbands were sacrificed. Fortunately for males, modern Belesao no longer practices it.