βάσις + λαός
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Transliteration (Etymon)
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Quotation
Βασιλεύς παρὰ τὸ σίνω, σινεὺς, ὁ βλαπτικὸς, καὶ μετὰ τοῦ στερητικοῦ Α, ἀσινεὺς, ὁ ἀβλαβὴς, ὃν οὐδεὶς δύναται βλάψαι, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ Ν εἰς Λ, καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ Β, βασιλεύς. Καὶ πόθεν ἐτυμολογεῖται; Παρὰ τὸ βάσις εἶναι ἐλέους ἢ ἐπίβασις καὶ ὕψος? δὲ (δεῖ) γὰρ ἀληθῶς βασιλέα καλοποιεῖν, ὁ δὲ κακοποιεῖ(ῶν) τύραννος· ἢ παρὰ τὸ βάσις εἶναι λαοῦ, οἱονεὶ ἕδρα καὶ στήριγμα· ἢ παρὰ τὸ πεπᾶσθαι λαοὺς, τουτέστι κεκτῆσθαι· ἢ παρ’ αὐτὸ (παρὰ τὸ) ἐπὶ πᾶσι λεύσσειν, καὶ πάντων προνοεῖσθαι
Translation (En)
Basileus "king" comes from sinō "to harm", *sineus "harming", and with the privative a-, *asineus "who is exempt from harm, whom nobody can harm", and through change of the [n] into [l], and addition of [b], basileus. And what is its etymology? From the fact that it is the basis of mercy (basis eleous), or its highest degree and summit, for indeed a king must do good actions, and the one who acts wrongly is a tyrant; or from the fact that he is the basis of his people (basis laoû), as though he were a seat and a support; or from the fact that he is master of the people (pepâsthai laous), that is, he owns them; or from the fact that he watches everyone (epi pâsi leussein), and foresees everything.
Parallels
Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae 9.3.18 (Reges autem ob hanc causam apud Graecos BASILEIS vocantur, quod tamquam bases populum sustinent); Etym. Genuinum, beta 46 (Βασιλεύς (Ps. 2, 2)· παρὰ τὸ σίνω, τὸ βλάπτω, γίνεται σινεύς, ὁ βλαπτικός, ἀσινεύς, ὁ ἀβλαβής, καὶ τροπῇ τοῦ ν εἰς τὸ λ ἀσιλεύς καὶ πλεονασμῷ τοῦ β βασιλεύς. ἢ παρὰ τὸ βαίνειν ἵλεως. ἢ παρὰ τὸ πεπᾶσθαι λαούς, ὅ ἐστι κεκτῆσθαι· πάσασθαι γὰρ τὸ κτήσασθαι, καὶ πάμματα τὰ κτήματα, καὶ Δ 433 "πολυπάμμονος". ἵν’ ᾖ πασιλεύς, καὶ βασιλεύς. ἢ ὁ περὶ τὴν βάσιν ἴλην ἔχων, τουτέστι μετὰ πλήθους ποιούμενος τὴν βάσιν καὶ τὴν ἔξοδον. ἢ ὅτι λαοῦ ἐστι βάσις καὶ στήριγμα. ἢ παρὰ τὴν βάσιν καὶ τὸ λεύσσειν, ὁ ἐν τῷ περιϊέναι περίβλεπτος. ἢ πασιλεύς τις ὤν, ὁ πάντας λεύσσων καὶ πάντων προνοῶν); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 189 (idem); Tzetzes, Exegesis in Homer Iliadem 1.80 (βασιλεὺς δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ βάσις καὶ τοῦ λαός, ἤγουν στηριγμὸς λαοῦ); Theophylactus, Λόγος εἰς τὸν πορφυρογέννητον κῦρ Κωνσταντῖνον p. 195 (Τρεῖς εἰσι πολιτειῶν καταστάσεις καθολικωτέραι, ὧν ἣ μὲν μοναρχία καὶ ἔννομος καὶ βασιλεία καλεῖται, βάσις οὖσα λαοῦ καὶ στήριγμα κατὰ τὸ ἔτυμον τοῦ ὀνόματος); Michel iIalicus, Oratio 44, p. 287 (καὶ βάσιν ἀληθῶς λαοῦ θεοπρόβλητον, ἵνα καὶ τοὔνομα τῆς βασιλείας μὴ διαψεύσαιο); Nicephorys Blemmydes, Regia statua 8 (ἔστι τοίνυν βασιλεὺς ‘βάσις λαοῦ’); Germanus II, Homilia 15, p. 341 (Ὡς ἀγαθὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς οὖτος, τὴν τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐτυμότητα ἐκ τῶν ἔργων φαίνων ἐπαληθεύουσαν· τῷ ὄντι γὰρ βάσις λαοῦ καὶ πόλεως ἀπεφάνθη, τῇ συντονίᾳ τῆς μετανοίας καταστρεφομένην ἤδη πόλιν ἑδράσας)
Comment
This etymology is in fact older than Choeroboscus, as it is found already in Isidore of Seville at the beginning of the 7th c. (see Parallels), but Choeroboscus is our first Greek source. The noun is parsed as a compound of "basis" and "people". Formally, this arose from an inflected form, the genitive βασιλέως, which matches the Attic form of the word for "people", λεώς (nominative singular). It was then easy to convert this genitive into a syntagm in order to provide an etymology. From the semantic point of view, it is an elaboration of the etymology βασιλεύς / βάσις and relies on the same notion that the king is the warrant of social order and of the welfare of his people