basium

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *bu, cognate with English buss; cf. also Persian بوس (bus, “kiss”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈbaː.si.um/, [ˈbaː.si.ũ]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

bāsium n (genitive bāsiī); second declension

1. kiss, especially of the hand
   • Phaedre 5, 8, 28

     Jactat basia tibicen.

     Throws kisses of the hand.

   • Catullus Carm. 5

     Da mi basia mille, deinde centum.

     Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred.

Inflection

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	bāsium	bāsia
genitive	bāsiī	bāsiōrum
dative	bāsiō	bāsiīs
accusative	bāsium	bāsia
ablative	bāsiō	bāsiīs
vocative	bāsium	bāsia

Synonyms

• (kiss): ōsculum, suāvium

Derived terms

• bāsiō

Descendants

• Aromanian: bãshiu
• Asturian: besu
• Catalan: bes
• Dalmatian: biss
• French: baiser
• Friulian: buss, buš
• Galician: beixo
• Italian: bacio
• Ladino: bezo

• Occitan: bais
• Old Portuguese: beijo
• 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 Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
• Pokorny *bu