basilica [M16th] Basilica is a Latin word, literally ‘royal palace’, based on Greek basileus ‘king’. This Greek root has also given rise to: the aromatic herb basil [LME], the ‘royal’ herb for its many qualities—one early source even says that it is ‘good for the stryking of a se dragon’; and basilisk [ME] which has come via Latin from Greek basiliskos with the senses ‘little king’, ‘serpent’ (specifying a type distinguished by a crown-like spot), and a ‘wren’ (with a gold crown-like crest). In English a basilisk is either a mythical reptile hatched by a serpent from a cock’s egg, or a zoological term for a Central American lizard.