basis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈba.sɪs], [ˈba.siːs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbaː.s̬is], [ˈbaː.s̬is]^[1]

Forms

basis f (genitive basis or baseōs or basios); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis, “stepping, step, base”),^[2][1][3] from βαίνω (baínō, “to go, step”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to go, come”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Cicero (81–43 BC), who writes of a statue standing on a very high pedestal and of the base of trophies.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

It was the lowest part of a structure, a pedestal or foundation, as Cicero's base of a villa, and the base of a column in Vitruvius.^[2][5] In geometry it was the base of a triangle, as Cicero's triangle formed by flying cranes, or the chord of an arc.^[2]

Celsus used it in medicine for the base or attachment of an organ or tumour, and Vitruvius in astronomy for the lower part of a constellation.^[2] Seneca's proverb “to measure someone with his pedestal” meant to overrate them.^[5][7] English base came from it through Old French about 1300, and basis was borrowed in the 1570s.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of pedestals and of a triangle.^[2][5][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the base of a column.^[5][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of the base of the brain.^[2][6]
• c. 1300 – English base is recorded.^[4]
• 1570s – English basis is borrowed.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pedestal, base, foundation.^[2][1]
2. The base of a column.^[5][1]
3. (medicine) The base, point of attachment.^[2]
4. (astronomy) The lower part (of a constellation).^[2]
5. (geometry) The base (of a triangle); a chord.^[2][1]
6. (figurative) A foundation, basis.^[2][1]

Word family

• basella
• basicula
• basilāris

Related words

• English base
• English basis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn