A behest is a command or an urgent request. At his behest, at the behest of the king, royal behest.
It occurs almost only in at the behest of, which is a formal way of saying because somebody asked or ordered — and the phrase is useful precisely because it leaves the strength of the asking vague. The word originally meant a vow or promise. Note that the final t was added by analogy with other words.
1nounbehestA command or an urgent request.
“He travelled to Paris at the behest of his employer.”
behest is a command.
Old English behaes meant a vow or promise, from a root meaning to command. The final t was added later by analogy.
Proto-Germanic
*haisiz
Proto-West Germanic
*bihaisi
Old English
behǣs — vow, promise
Middle English
biheste
English, today
behest
Built from
From Middle English biheste, from Old English behǣs (“vow, promise”), from Proto-West Germanic bihaisi, from bi- + haisi, from Proto-Germanic haisiz, from haitaną (“to command”). Final -t by analogy with other similar words in -t. Related to Old English behātan (“to command, promise”), Middle Low German beheit, behēt (“a promise”). Compare also hest (“command”), hight.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA