basium

Latin

Etymology

Possibly from an expressive root such as Proto-Indo-European *bu. Compare English buss and Persian بوس‎ (bus, “kiss”).

Pronunciation
  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈbaː.si.um/, [ˈbäːs̠iʊ̃ˑ]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈba.si.um/, [ˈbäːs̬ium]
  • Audio (Classical)(file)

Noun

bāsium n (genitive bāsiī or bāsī); second declension

  1. kiss, especially of the hand
    • 15 BCE – 45 CE, Phaedrus, Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri Quinque 5.7.28:
      Iactat basia tibicen.
      Throws kisses of the hand.
  2. (poetic) kiss of the lips (esp. used this way in Catullus and Martial)
    • 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus 5.7:
      da mi basia mille, deinde centum,
      Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred,

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative bāsium bāsia
Genitive bāsiī
bāsī1		 bāsiōrum
Dative bāsiō bāsiīs
Accusative bāsium bāsia
Ablative bāsiō bāsiīs
Vocative bāsium bāsia

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Aromanian: bãshiu
  • Asturian: besu
  • Catalan: bes
  • Corsican: basgiu
  • Dalmatian: biss
  • Friulian: buss, buš
  • Galician: beixo
  • Italian: bacio
  • Ladino: bezo
  • Neapolitan: vaso
  • Occitan: bais
  • Old French: baisier
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: beijo
  • Romansch: bitsch, betsch, bütsch
  • Sardinian: basu, baxu, vasu
  • Sicilian: vasu
  • Spanish: beso
  • Venetian: baxo

References
  • “basium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “basium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • basium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Pokorny *bu
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