βάσις
Word
Validation
Yes
Word-form
βασιλεύς
Word-lemma
Etymon-lemma
Transliteration (Word)
basileus
English translation (word)
king
Transliteration (Etymon)
basis
English translation (etymon)
step, base
Century
5 AD
Source
Idem
Ref.
In Platonis Phaedrum scholia 2, 174
Ed.
C. M. Lucarini and C. Moreschini, Hermias Alexandrinus: In Platonis Phaedrum Scholia, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2012 (Teubner)
Quotation
καὶ γὰρ ἑδράζει πάντα ὁ βασιλεύς […] (παρὸ καὶ [ὁ] βασιλεὺς εἴρηται παρὰ τὴν βάσιν καὶ τὸ ἑδραῖον καὶ τὸ βεβηκέναι ἐπ’ αὐτοῦ τὰ πράγματα)
Translation (En)
As a matter of fact, the king (basileus) is the support of all things (this is why he is called basileus, from basis "base", what is "steady", and the fact that the affairs are based on him)
Parallels
There are many parallels in the developed form βάσις + X, but no parallel with the simple etymology as a derivative of βάσις
Modern etymology
Unknown. The word is already attested in Mycenaean (qa-si-re-su), but has no cognate in other IE languages (Beekes, EDG)
Persistence in Modern Greek
MG has βασιλιάς designating: 1. "king", 2. any per. leading a luxurius life / dominating in a field, 3. (masc.) the chess fig., 4. (fem.) the bee leader. "Βασιλεύς" occurs only in phr. "βασιλικότερος του βασιλέως" and "Βασιλεύς των βασιλέων" (= Christ).
Entry By
Le Feuvre
Comment
This is a simple paronymic etymology, reflecting the conception of the king as warrant of the social order and base on which society rests. The king is not seated on a basis as in the etymology βασιλεύς / βάσις + λεῖος, he is the basis, metaphorically. It is a simpler version of all the etymologies parsing βασιλεύς as a compound of βάσις + X which are attested later and can be described as improvements in the sense that they attempt to find a motivation for the syllable -λεύς which is left unaccounted for in this version. Apparently the word is treated as a derivative of βάσις