abase

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gʷem-“to step”
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromβᾰ́σῐς“foot; base, foundation”
3. Medieval Latin · derived frombassus“short of stature, low; base”
4. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂éd“at, to”
5. Latin · derived fromad“toward, to”
6. Old French · derived fromabaissier
7. Middle French · derived fromabaisser
8. Middle English · inherited fromabaishen
9. English todayabase

From Late Middle English abaishen, abashen, abaisse, abassen, abesse, abessen (“to be upset; to embarrass; to surprise; to confound; to bend down, stoop; to abase, degrade, disgrace”), from Middle French abaisser, from Old French abaissier, abessier (“to prostrate oneself; to lower, reduce”) (also compare Old French esbahir (“to amaze”), Vulgar Latin abbassiāre (“to lower”)), from a- (prefix indicating movement towards something) (from Latin ad (“toward, to”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at, to”)) + baissier (“to lower”) (from Medieval Latin bassus (“short of stature, low; base”), possibly from Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς (bắsĭs, “foot; base, foundation”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to step”)). The spelling of the English word has been influenced by base, thus ostensibly analyzable as a- (“towards”) + base. There exist verb cognates in Gallo-Romance languages such as Catalan abaixar (“lower; abase”) and Occitan abaissar, and similar word construction in other romance languages as Spanish abajo (“down, downstairs; below”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from c. 1350–1470 To lower, as in condition in life, office, rank, etc., so as to cause pain or hurt feelings; to degrade, to depress, to humble, to humiliate.
• from c. 1350–1470 To lower physically; to depress; to cast or throw down; to stoop.
• from mid 16th – mid 18th c. To lower in value, in particular by altering the content of alloys in coins; to debase.