basilica Latin · revision 642

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [baˈsɪ.lɪ.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [baˈs̬iː.li.ka]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''basilica''' ''f'' (genitive basilicae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The spelling ''bassilica'' appears in inscriptions at Pompeii,^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) and the ''Appendix Probi'' corrects it: “basilica, non bassilica”.^(TLL)

+ Late documents also write ''baselica'', ''baseleca'' and ''basileca''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|βασιλική|tr=basilikḗ]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Saalfeld 1874) short for [[m|grc|βασιλικὴ στοά|tr=basilikḕ stoá|t=royal hall]],^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) the feminine of [[m|grc|βασιλικός|tr=basilikós|t=royal]],^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) from [[m|grc|βασιλεύς|tr=basileús|t=king]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) At Athens the royal portico was the seat of the archon basileus, who gave judgment there.^(Etymonline)

+

+ Ancient writers already explained the name from the Greek word for “king”: Paulus' epitome of Festus says that it was named after the basileus, that is, the king,^(TLL) and Isidore of Seville that basilicas were once the dwellings of kings and that churches are now so called because the King of all is worshipped in them.^(TLL)^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The word is in use from Plautus on.^(TLL) Its Classical meaning is an oblong hall with a double colonnade, used as a [[m|en|law court]] and as an [[m|en|exchange]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Republican and Imperial Rome a basilica was a public building beside the [[forum]], where courts sat and business was done;^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Livy records that the first known one was built by Cato the Elder, the Basilica Porcia.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Vitruvius gives rules for their placing and design,^(TLL) and the Basilica Julia, built by Julius Caesar, became the chief seat of the law courts.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ From the 4th century churches were built on the plan of the basilica,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Etymonline) and in late Latin the word came to mean a church, first a large or principal one.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for an oblong church with three naves and an apse, a major church, any church however small, a martyr's memorial and a funerary chapel;^(Niermeyer 1976) in Merovingian Gaul it often meant the church of a monastery, as against the cathedral or parish ''ecclesia''.^(Du Cange 1883) In this sense it lives on in [[ro|biserică]] “church”,^(Wiktionary) and English took the word over for the Roman building type in the 16th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – The word is in use from Plautus on.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 2nd century BC – According to Livy, Cato the Elder builds the Basilica Porcia, the first known basilica in Rome.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions basilicas full of people in the forum.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius describes how basilicas should be sited and built.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 363–c. 420 AD – Sulpicius Severus uses it for a church.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains church basilicas as the house of the King of all.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1540s – Borrowed into English as [[en|basilica]] for a building on the plan of the royal portico.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An oblong public hall with a double [[m|en|colonnade]], used as a [[m|en|law court]] and an [[m|en|exchange]]; a [[m|en|basilica]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A [[m|en|church]], especially a large or principal one; a [[m|en|cathedral]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Any church, even a small one; a monastery church.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Du Cange 1883)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A memorial built for a [[m|en|martyr]]; a funerary [[m|en|chapel]].^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Descendants==

+ * French: [[m|fr|basoche]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Romanian: [[m|ro|biserică]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Romansh: [[m|rm|baselgia]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Dalmatian: [[m|dlm|basalca]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Aromanian: [[m|rup|bãsearicã]], [[m|rup|bisearicã]], [[m|rup|bãserãche]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * English: [[m|en|basilica]] ''(borrowed)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[archibasilica]]

+ * [[basilicola]]

+ * [[subbasilicānus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[basilicus]]

+ * [[en|basilica]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The native Latin word for such a hall was [[regia]].^(Lewis & Short 1879) In medieval medicine a homograph, of Arabic origin, named a vein on the outside of the arm.^(MLW)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}