bessalis

Latin

Etymology

From bes (two-thirds) +‎ -ālis (suffix that forms adjectives of relationship). Two-thirds of a Roman foot would have been 8 unciae.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [bɛsˈsaː.lɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [besˈsaː.lis]

Adjective

bessālis (neuter bessāle); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. comprising two-thirds (of a thing)
2. eight unciae, a unit of length, weight, and volume used by the ancient Romans.
   • c. 80 BCE – 15 BCE, Vitruvius, De Architectura 5.10.2:

     supraque laterculis besalibus pilae struantur ita dispositae

     Upon this, pillars made of bricks of eight unciae are built

   • 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 8.71.7:

     Besalem ad scutulam sexto pervenimus anno

     I arrived to an small dish of eight unciae on the sixth year

3. (metonymic) anything of little value
   • c. 27 CE – 66 CE, Petronius, 58:

     Curabo, longe tibi sit comula ista besalis et dominus dupunduarius

     I’ll take care that your eight-unciae hairstyle and duplicitous master are of no use to you

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	bessālis	bessāle		bessālēs	bessālia
genitive	bessālis			bessālium
dative	bessālī			bessālibus
accusative	bessālem	bessāle		bessālīs bessālēs	bessālia
ablative	bessālī			bessālibus
vocative	bessālis	bessāle		bessālēs	bessālia

Alternative forms

• besālis

Descendants

• Sicilian: bisolu (“slab; threshold”)
• Ancient Greek: βήσσαλον (bḗssalon, “brick”)
  • → Greek: βότσαλο (vótsalo, “pebble”)

References

• “bessalis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “bessalis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• 1847, Robert Ainsworth, Alexander Jamieson, Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary‎ (in English), H.G. Bohn, page 480:
• 1828, Francis Edward Jackson Valpy, An Etymological Dictionary of the Latin Language‎ (in English), A.J. Valpy, page 50:
• 1900, Evangelinus Apostolides Sophocles, Joseph Henry Thayer, Henry Drisler, Greek lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine periods (From B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100)‎ (in Latin), C. Scribner's Sons, page 307:
• 1907, James Robert Vernam Marchant, Joseph Fletcher Charles, Cassell's Latin dictionary: Latin-English and English-Latin‎, page 7:
• 1968, Oxford Latin Dictionary‎ (in English), Oxford University Press, page 231: