basso

Forms

basso (feminine bassa, masculine plural bassi, feminine plural basse, superlative bassissimo)^[1] Old Italian forms include baxo, bassu and vasso, the last in Aquila around 1430.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin bassus, found in Latin glosses of the 8th century with the gloss “crassus, non altus” (thick, not tall).^[4][5][6][3] The adjective first meant “fat, stout” (early 6th century) and later “low”, the only sense the Romance languages continue.^[3][7] Classical Latin has the word only as the surname Bassus, borne by men from Campania, so it is generally taken to be an Oscan word.^[4][5][8] Alessio instead proposed Ancient Greek βάσσων (bássōn), the Sicilian Greek comparative of βαθύς (bathús, “deep”), and Wiktionary also lists a Celtic source as possible.^[5][1]

The same word is French bas, Occitan bas, Friulian bas and Sardinian bassu.^[5][3] Catalan baix, Spanish bajo and Portuguese baixo go back to a variant Vulgar Latin *bassius, which also gave Neapolitan vascio in the South.^[5][9]

The musical noun continues the Medieval Latin noun, recorded in 1274.^[3] The military sense of bassa copies Spanish baja, and the nautical sense “shoal” of both nouns follows the Spanish and Portuguese words for a sandbank.^[4][3] Several compounds follow French models: bassofondo French bas-fond and bassacorte French basse-cour, and the old phrase meaning non-commissioned officers follows French bas-officiers.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur super natura feminarum of the late 12th century.^[2][10] DELI's first record of the basic sense, not rising far above a surface, is in Brunetto Latini before 1294, and GRADIT dates the word before 1276.^[4][6] Already in Old Italian it was used for things near the ground, for low-lying land, for eyes and faces turned down in shame or humility, and for what is vile or poor.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Most figurative senses are old: basso “soft” of the voice in Guinizelli (before 1276), “shallow” in Dante (1300–1313), and “mean, vile” in Dante before 1321;^[4] bassa condizione and basso stato “humble condition” are in Boccaccio (1348–1353).^[4] Matteo Villani, before 1363, uses it for the south and for land downstream, towards the sea; hence Paesi Bassi “the Low Countries” (1567) and bassa Italia “southern Italy” (1864).^[4] The sense “late in a historical period” (basso latino, basso Impero) appears in 1573.^[4]

As a noun basso meant the lower part of anything (Dante), a shoal (1514), and in music the lowest part of the harmony (1602), the singer (1556) and voice (1561) of that register, and the instrument (1640).^[4] In Naples a basso is a ground-floor dwelling opening straight onto the street, from the dialect vascio.^[11][9][12]

The musical word passed to other languages: German Bass (1512), French basse (1660), and English bass in the 16th century and basso in 1817.^[13][14]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Basso appears in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur super natura feminarum.^[2]
• Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses it for a soft voice.^[4]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for something low.^[4]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for what is base or vile.^[4]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it for the south and for land downstream.^[4]
• 1556 – The noun is recorded for a bass singer.^[4][13]
• 1567 – Lodovico Guicciardini's Descrittione di tutti i Paesi Bassi is published.^[4]
• 1602 – Basso is recorded for the lowest part of the harmony.^[4]
• 1817 – English basso is first recorded.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. low, not high; of a person, short: un muro basso, una donna piuttosto bassa.^[6][11][15]
2. Situated near the ground or below other parts: il ripiano più basso.^[6][15]
3. Of water, shallow: Qui l'acqua è bassa, si tocca.^[6][15][16]
4. Of the eyes or head, lowered, turned down: a testa bassa.^[6][11][15]
5. Southern; lower, nearer the mouth of a river: la bassa Italia, il basso Adige.^[11][15][16]
6. Late in a historical period: il basso Medioevo.^[15][16]
7. Low on a scale: temperatura bassa, prezzi bassi.^[6][15]
8. Of a voice, soft; of a sound, deep: parlare a bassa voce.^[6][15][16]
9. (figurative) Of low rank: ufficiali di basso grado.^[6]
10. (figurative) Base, mean, ignoble: una bassa vendetta.^[6][16]

Noun

1. The lower part of something; the bottom: dal basso verso l'alto.^[9][1]
2. (music) The lowest male voice; a singer with that voice; the lowest part of the harmony; the bass guitar or another bass instrument.^[9][1][15]
3. (Naples) A ground-floor dwelling lit only by its door onto the street.^[11]

Adverb

1. Low, downwards: volare basso.^[17][1]

Word family

• bassa
• bassezza
• bassotto
• bassura
• bassofondo
• bassopiano
• bassorilievo
• bassotuba
• abbassare
• abbasso
• dabbasso
• ribassare
• ribasso
• sbassare
• contrabbasso
• bassista

Related words

• French bas
• Late Latin bassus

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include alti e bassi “ups and downs”, fare man bassa “to make off with everything”, colpo basso “a low blow”, and essere in basse acque “to be hard up”.^[6][16][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 5, 19
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 453
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it
11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
13. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
17. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
18. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli