bassin

Forms

bassin m (plural bassins)^[1] Old French bacin, Picard bachin; the spelling bassin dates from the 16th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French bacin, inherited from Vulgar Latin *baccinus, restored from Late Latin bacchinon (“basin”), found in the 6th century in Gregory of Tours.^[4][5][2][6] It belongs to the same family as bac;^[4][2] the GLLF and Wiktionary take the base to be Gaulish *baccus (“vessel”).^[7][1] Littré notes that Diez rejected a source in German Becken, since a Germanic /k/ would not have become a hissing sound in Romance;^[3][8] Meyer-Lübke thought the Latin word might be African.^[3][8]

Cognate with Italian bacino, Old Occitan bacin and Spanish bacín.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as bacins about 1165–1170 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie, in a list of precious vessels, for a hollow portable basin.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

The word first named a hollow vessel, especially a kitchen pan, a toilet basin (bacin a barbier 1363) and an alms dish (1360), from which came the 16th-century phrase cracher au bassin “to pay up”, later replaced by cracher au bassinet.^[2][4][10]

By extension it named a stone structure that holds water, as in a fountain (1539), and by likeness of shape the bony girdle at the base of the trunk, the pelvis (1546).^[4][2] In geography it is the area drained by a river (16th century); from this come a dock within a larger harbour (1683) and the modern bassin houiller, bassin minier and bassin d'emploi.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1165–1170 – Bacins appears in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie.^[4]
• 1360 – An inventory records bacin a aumône “alms dish”.^[4]
• 1363 – Bacin a barbier is recorded.^[4]
• 1539 – Robert Estienne records the basin of a fountain.^[4]
• 1546 – Charles Estienne uses it in anatomy for the pelvis.^[4]
• 16th century – Martin du Bellay uses it for a river's basin.^[4]
• 1683 – Guillet defines it as a dock within a port.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A portable hollow basin or bowl, usually round or oval; also a bedpan.^[11][1]
2. One of the two pans of a balance.^[11][7]
3. An artificial pond or pool built to hold water, as in a park or fountain.^[11][4]
4. (nautical) A dock in a port.^[4][1]
5. (anatomy) The pelvis.^[4][1]
6. (geography) A river basin: bassin versant; also a geological or economic region: bassin houiller.^[1][2]

Word family

• bassine
• bassiner
• bassinet
• bassinoire

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a separate, dated familiar noun and adjective bassin “a bore, boring” (1858), from the verb bassiner “to pester”.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 199b
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert