base [ME] There are two different words spelled as ‘base’ in English. The old-fashioned one meaning ‘low, ignoble’ comes from Latin bassus ‘short’, also the source of to abase [LME]. The low musical bass [LME] and the bassoon [E18th] come from the same source. The other base comes, along with basis [L16th] and basic [M19th], via Latin from Greek basis, which meant ‘step’ and ‘pedestal’. Its first English meaning was ‘the pedestal of a statue’. Basement [E17th] probably comes via archaic Dutch basement ‘foundation’, from Italian basamento ‘base of a column’, from basis.

Although baseball [M18th] is primarily an American game, the earliest recorded uses of the word are British. Phrases drawn from the US game are familiar elsewhere. To touch base [L19th], ‘to briefly make or renew contact with something or somebody’, is widely used. Other phrases using base include to get to first base, ‘to achieve the first step towards your objective’, and off base, ‘mistaken’, though these are still primarily American. See also acronym.