βάσις + ἔλεος
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Transliteration (Etymon)
English translation (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 (basis) of mercy (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
Etym. Genuinum, beta 46 (idem); Etym. Magnum, Kallierges p. 189 (idem); Arethas, Commentarius in Apocalypsin col. 700 (Ἅπερ ὡς βασιλεὺς βάσις ὢν ἐλέους, πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ πλάσμα διὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀποστόλων εἰργάσατο); Arethas, Scripta minora, Op. 61 p. 29 (οὐχ ἁπλῶς βασιλεὺς ἀλλ’ ὡς βάσις ἐλέους τῷ ὑπηκόῳ καὶ ὢν καὶ καλούμενος)
Comment
This etymology is one of the many parsing the word as a compound of βάσις. Here the second element is ἔλεος "mercy", which is natural in a christian conception of the king, who must be as merciful as the king of heavens. The etymology implies a formal manipulation, dropping of the initial [e] of ἔλεος