Etymologically
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basis

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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

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