base
English has two words spelled base: the noun “foundation, bottom”, from Greek through Latin, and the adjective “low, ignoble”, from Late Latin bassus.[1][2][3]
Pronunciation
- IPA: /beɪs/[4]
base1 foundation
Etymology
The foundation is inherited from Middle English bas, borrowed from Old French base (“pedestal, foundation”),[3][5][2] perhaps confused with the Old French adjective bas “low”,[3] and directly borrowed from Latin basis (“foundation”),[6][5][7] from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis, “a step; that on which one stands, a pedestal”),[6][8] from βαίνω (baínō, “I go, step”),[6][9][8] from Proto-Indo-European *gwa- (“to go, come”).[6][2] It is a doublet of basis.[3] The verb and adjective are from the noun.[6][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The foundation of a building, the pedestal of a statue, the bottom of something as its support: about 1300[6] or before 1300.[3] The OED's first quotation is from about 1325.[10]
Semantic evolution
The figurative “fundamental principle, groundwork” is from about 1500.[10] In alchemy a base was an alloy of base metals in the late 15th century,[6] and the chemical compound that unites with an acid to form a salt is from 1810, from a sense introduced in French in 1754 by the chemist Guillaume-François Rouelle.[6] In games, a safe spot is suggested from the mid-15th century, the starting point is from the 1690s, and the destination of a runner from 1812.[6] The military base, “secure ground from which operations proceed”, is from 1860.[6] The verb meant “to make a foundation for” in the 1580s,[6][3] 1587 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster,[3][9] and “to place an argument upon a foundation” by 1841.[6]
Timeline
- c. 1300 – a foundation, pedestal.[6]
- c. 1500 – a fundamental principle.[10]
- 1587 – verb, to found.[3][9]
- 1690s – a starting point in sport.[6]
- 1810 – a chemical base.[6]
- 1812 – a runner's destination.[6]
- 1841 – to base an argument.[6]
- 1860 – a military base.[6]
Modern meaning
Noun
- The lowest part, on which something rests; a foundation.
- A basic principle or underlying element; a basis.
- A centre of operations, especially a military one.
- (baseball) Any of the four corners of the infield.
- (chemistry) A substance that reacts with an acid to form a salt.
- (mathematics) The number on which a system of numbers is built.
Verb
- To use as a foundation or starting point: based on fact.
- To station at a base.
Adjective
- Forming a base.
Word family
- basal
- basic
- baseline
- baseball
- basement
- database
- airbase
base2 low, ignoble
Etymology
The adjective is inherited from Middle English bas (“low”),[3][11] borrowed from Old French bas (“low, lowly, mean”),[6][3][2] from Medieval Latin bassus (“low”), Late Latin bassus “thick, fat, stumpy”,[3][8][9] found in classical Latin only as a personal name.[6][5][7] Its origin is uncertain:[8] Etymonline suggests it may be Oscan or Celtic, or related to Greek βαθύς (bathús, “deep”).[6] The same Latin word gave abase, bass the low voice, and bassoon.[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
“Low, of little height”: the late 14th century,[6] about 1390.[3] The spelling bass is found as a separate formation before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.[3]
Semantic evolution
“Low on the social scale” is from the late 15th century, and “low on the moral scale” by the 1530s.[6] “Befitting an inferior person, unworthy” is from the 1590s.[6] Base metals, worthless as opposed to noble or precious metals, are from about 1600.[6]
Timeline
- c. 1390 – low, of little height.[3]
- late 15th century – of low social rank.[6]
- 1530s – morally low.[6]
- 1590s – unworthy.[6]
- c. 1600 – base metals.[6]
Modern meaning
Adjective
- Without moral principle; contemptible or mean-spirited.
- Inferior in quality or value: base metals.
- (archaic) Of low birth or rank.
- (archaic) Low, short.
Word family
- basely
- baseness
- abase
- debase
- base-born
Related words
- basis
- bass
- bassoon
- acrobat
- basso
Usage notes
A third base, in prisoners' base, a chasing game, is probably an alteration of bars, and the game is from about 1440.[5][10]
References
- ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster