>>>>> "Han-Wen" == Han-Wen Nienhuys <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Han-Wen> Bass is related to the latin for low, whereas base is
Han-Wen> related to the Greek verb "bainoo" for step
Han-Wen> (eg. Xenophon's Anabasis). I'd say there is no basis (pun
Han-Wen> intended) for mixing them up, and if anyone did so in the
Han-Wen> 1600s, then they're as clueless as the people who mix it
Han-Wen> up today.
Before there were dictionaries there wasn't standardized spelling. So
someone in the 16th century may very well have written base instead of
bass, but the more common part name was bassus. So if someone wrote
base it's evidence that they pronounced bass something like the way we
do, but not that they thought it was derived from something other than
the latin bassus.
--
Laura (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097 fax: (801) 365-6574
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
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