Etymologically
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basio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbaː.si.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbaː.s̬i.o][1]

Forms

bāsiō (present infinitive bāsiāre, perfect active bāsiāvī, supine bāsiātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin bāsium (“kiss”) + -ō.[2][3][1] De Vaan thinks bāsium, which Catullus brought into the written language, is probably a loanword, perhaps Celtic, given that Catullus came from Verona.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Catullus uses it first,[4] asking in poem 7 how many kisses would be enough for him to kiss Lesbia with (bāsia multa bāsiāre).[5]

Semantic evolution

It means to kiss.[2][5][1] Lewis & Short call it poetic and rare, most frequent in Catullus and absent from Plautus and Terence;[5] after Catullus it occurs in Martial and Petronius.[5] The grammarian Probus gives Martial as the authority for the perfect bāsiāvī.[3] The glosses render it with Ancient Greek καταφιλέω (kataphiléō, “to kiss”) and Latin ōsculor.[3]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of many kisses.[5][4]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius.[5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial.[5][3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To kiss.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • bāsiātiō
  • bāsiātor
  • perbāsiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press