Various dictionaries have different things to say.
What price [fame/success/victory etc.]?
something that you say which means it is possible that the fame, success etc. that has been achieved was not worth all the suffering it has caused
What price victory when so many people have died to make it possible?
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed.)
price [...]
what price (something)? what are the chances of (something) happening now?
(Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged)
What price something?
What is the value of something?; What good is something? (Said when the value of the thing referred to is being diminished or ignored.)
Jane's best friend told us all about Jane's personal problems. What price friendship? Jack simply declared himself president of the political society. What price democracy?
(McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs)
what price ——? used to ask what has become of something or to suggest that something has or would become worthless : what price justice if he were allowed to go free?
(New Oxford American Dictionary 2nd edition, from OS X)
Apart from Collins's strange definition, it seems that the general meaning of "what price X?" is "what's the value of X?" (not "what's the price of X", in the modern sense of price).
As for how it came to be, my wild speculation of the day is that it could have been used grammatically in an anaphoric expression, eg What price is freedom to us if we tolerate this tyranny? What price justice? etc.
becoming can mean the obvious - changing into, growing into, happening, coming about.
It also has a second meaning - "to look well"
The word started to be used in this manner in the early 14th century, from the earlier sense of "to agree with, be fitting" (early 13th century).
Similarly there is "comely", which means handsome, lovely, splendid.
Therefore, "generosity becomes you" means "generosity looks well on/is fitting on you" (essentially, it makes you look good). "Rudeness does not become you" means "rudeness does not look well on/does not fit you" (essentially, it makes you look bad).
You can also use the word "unbecoming" as a negative. "Your rudeness is unbecoming."
Best Answer
The use of the word "read" in spoken radio transmissions was used to ask "how well is my message being received"
When using electronic voice communication, it is useful to know the quality of the signal being received. So the question "how (well) do you read (my transmission)" is asking for an indication of quality. The speaker wants to know if he needs to speak slower or louder to insure the message is received.
This is all part of voice procedure
A typical response might be "I read you 5 by 5" where the first number indicates the strength of the signal on a scale of 1 to 5 and the second number indicates the quality of the signal (how much noise there is).
"I read you five by five" means "I read you loud and clear" which implies "I hear and can understand everything you are saying"