Etymologically
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basin

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbeɪsɪn/, /-ən/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English bacin, borrowed from Old French bacin (modern bassin),[2][3][4] from Late Latin bacchinon, bacinus, a wooden vessel used by the Gauls according to Gregory of Tours,[3][5][6] perhaps from Vulgar Latin *bacca, water vessel,[2][5][6] which may be of Gaulish or non-Indo-European origin.[3][5][4] The OED dismisses the proposed Celtic cognates on grounds of sense.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wide, shallow vessel for water: about 1200 in Barnhart and Etymonline,[3][2] about 1220 in the OED.[7]

Semantic evolution

Cymbals were basins from about 1302,[7] and the scale-dish of a balance from 1413.[7] A large artificial ornamental pool is from 1712,[2] and a harbour enclosure where water stays level is a later sense.[8][9] The tract of land drained by a river, a river basin, is from 1830.[2] The verb is from 1742.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a vessel.[3]
  • c. 1302 – cymbals.[7]
  • 1712 – an ornamental pool.[2]
  • 1742 – the verb.[5]
  • 1830 – a river basin.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A round, open container for holding liquids, or the amount it holds.
  2. A washbasin or sink.
  3. A sheltered area of water where boats can moor; a dock.
  4. The area drained by a river and its tributaries.

Word family

  • basinal
  • basined
  • basinful
  • basinlike
  • bassinet
  • washbasin
  • interbasin
  • subbasin

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins