bacín

Forms

bacín m (plural bacines)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish bacin, borrowed from Catalan bací (“basin”) according to the REW and Moliner.^[2][3] Corominas derives it from Late Latin bacchinon (“vessel”), used by Gregory of Tours, and notes that its ending shows the word is not native to Castilian.^[4][5][6] The DLE gives Medieval Latin bacinus as its source, and Wiktionary traces this to Vulgar Latin *baccinum (“basin, wide bowl”).^[7][1]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[4][5] Wartburg rejected a Greek etymology proposed by K. Latte and suspected a Gaulish source, and Meyer-Lübke guessed at an African one.^[4][6][2] Wiktionary derives it from bacca (“vessel”), probably Gaulish, or directly from Gaulish *bakkinon (“cup, wooden bowl”).^[1] It is related to Isidore's Late Latin baccea (“water vessel”) and to Spanish bacía, whose details are uncertain.^[6]

The Catalan word is first recorded in Llull around 1284.^[8] The same Latin word is Old French bacin, French bassin, Italian bacino and Portuguese bacio.^[2][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Abraham de Toledo's Moamín (1250, in a copy of the second half of the 13th century) tells the falconer to pour well water for the birds into a basin: échenles en un bacín agua de pozo “let them pour well water for them into a basin”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonsine prose the word named any concave vessel for liquids; the Primera Partida requires priests to wash the corporals en bacines muy limpios “in very clean basins”.^[12][11] The 13th-century customs tariffs of Santander, Juan Ruiz and other 14th-century texts know only bacín, not bacía.^[6] Nebrija recorded it both as a foot basin and as a chamber pot.^[13] In 1516 a Puerto Rican inventory lists a barber's bacín.^[14]

By 1899 the Academy defined it as the tall glazed earthenware chamber pot, the dish for collecting alms, and, figuratively, a despicable man, with the barber's basin as an old sense.^[15] The current DLE puts the small vessel for various uses first, then the chamber pot and the despicable person.^[7]

Timeline

• 1250 – the Moamín uses bacín for a basin of water.^[11]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for a vessel.^[12]
• 1256–1263 – the Primera Partida has bacines for washing the corporals.^[11]
• 1331 – the derivative bacinet “helmet” appears in an Aragonese inventory.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records it as a foot basin and a chamber pot.^[13]
• 1516 – a barber's bacín is listed in Puerto Rico.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from a Celtic word bac “cavity”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small vessel for various uses.^[7][1]
2. A chamber pot, especially the tall cylindrical kind once used: Guardaban el bacín debajo de la cama.^[7][16][1]
3. (figurative) A despicable person; also as an adjective.^[7][3]
4. A dish for collecting alms.^[3][17]
5. (obsolete) A barber's basin.^[7][3]

Word family

• bacina
• bacinete

Related words

• bacía
• Catalan bací
• French bassin

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
3. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bacín
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 447
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bacín
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 446
7. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. bacín
8. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 1, 530
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. bassin
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 444
11. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. bacín
12. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. bacín
13. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. bacín
14. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. bacín
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 118
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. bacín
17. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. bacín