Etymologically
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βάσις

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /bá.sis/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈβa.sis/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈva.sis/[1]

Forms

βᾰ́σῐς (básis) f (genitive βᾰ́σεως); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *gʷə́tis, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémtis, from the root *gʷem- (“to step, go”);[1] it matches Sanskrit गति (gáti, “going”).[2] By surface analysis it is βαίνω (baínō, “to walk, step”) + -σις (-sis).[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first recorded use is in Pindar's first Pythian ode, for the step of the dance.[4][3] Aeschylus uses it for stepping.[3]

Semantic evolution

In tragedy it is a step or footstep, the power to walk, the rolling of wheels, and the print of a sandal (Euripides).[3][5] Plato uses it for rhythmical or metrical movement, and Plato and Aristotle for a metrical foot.[3][5] Sophocles, Euripides, Plato and the New Testament use it for the foot or leg.[5]

From what one stands on it came to mean a base: a fixed resting place (Plato), the pedestal of a statue or a cauldron, the base of siege engines (Polybius, Plutarch), and in the Septuagint's Exodus silver bases for pillars.[5][6] Geometers used it for the base of a figure, and Hermogenes for the rhythmical close of a sentence.[1][3]

Latin borrowed it as basis.[7][1] The medieval and modern form is Modern Greek βάση (vási).[8][9]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for a dance step.[4][3][6]
  • 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for the print of a sandal.[3][6]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for rhythm and a metrical foot.[3][5][6]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – The Septuagint uses it for silver bases.[6]
  • 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the base of siege engines.[5][6]
  • Modern Greek – βάση means base, basis.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Stepping, a step; footsteps.[3][5]
  2. A measured step; rhythmical movement;[3] (prosody) a metrical foot.[3][5]
  3. The foot, leg.[5][1]
  4. A footprint.[5]
  5. A base, pedestal, foundation.[5][6]
  6. (geometry) The base of a figure.[1][5]
  7. (rhetoric) The rhythmical close of a sentence.[3]

Word family

  • ἀμφίβασις (amphíbasis)
  • ἀνάβασις (anábasis)
  • ἀντίβασις (antíbasis)
  • ἀπόβασις (apóbasis)
  • διάβασις (diábasis)
  • εἴσβασις (eísbasis)
  • ἔκβασις (ékbasis)
  • ἔμβασις (émbasis)
  • ἐπίβασις (epíbasis)
  • κατάβασις (katábasis)
  • μετάβασις (metábasis)
  • παράβασις (parábasis)
  • πρόβασις (próbasis)
  • πρόσβασις (prósbasis)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  8. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  9. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος