basium Latin · revision 33954

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=81/79–52/50 BC, Catullus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈbaː.si.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈbaː.s̬i.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bāsium''' ''n'' (genitive bāsiī or bāsī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) De Vaan thinks the late date of attestation points to a loanword; since Catullus, who brought it into the written language, came from Verona, it may be [[der|cel|-]].^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary likewise takes it as probably Celtic, from an expressive root.^(Wiktionary) De Vaan also notes that many languages have a word for "kiss" made of ⟨bu-⟩ and a sibilant, which points to onomatopoeia;^(de Vaan 2008) Lewis & Short compare [[m|en|buss]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Catullus uses it first,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) most famously in poem 5: ''dā mī bāsia mīlle'', "give me a thousand kisses".^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ De Vaan says that at first it carried an erotic sense absent from [[ōsculum]], and that in imperial Latin it became the ordinary word for a kiss.^(de Vaan 2008) Döderlein distinguishes ''ōsculum'' as a friendly kiss, [[suāvium]] as a tender one and ''bāsium'' as an ardent one.^(Döderlein 1874) Lewis & Short call it rare and mostly poetic, most frequent in Catullus, absent from Plautus and Terence, and found in Martial and Petronius;^(Lewis & Short 1879) the TLL notes that it is mostly plural.^(TLL) Wiktionary gives also a kiss of the hand.^(Wiktionary) Its Romance descendants include [[it|bacio]], [[pro|bais]] and [[es|beso]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a thousand kisses.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 66 AD – Petronius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|kiss]] (of the lips, in Catullus and Martial; also of the hand).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bāsiō]]

+ * [[bāsiolum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ōsculum]]

+ * [[suāvium]]

+ * [[en|buss]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}