"basken" meaning in Middle English

See basken in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈbaskən/
Etymology: Probably borrowed from Old Norse baðask, reflexive of baða (“to bathe”); compare busken (“to prepare”) for a parallel formation from an Old Norse reflexive. Etymological notes The traditional derivation from baðask agrees better with the verb's Middle English semantics than alternative derivations from other Old Norse etymons such as bakask (“to bake oneself”) or baska (“to heat, warm”). However, Whitehall entirely denies the derivation of basken from Scandinavian since it is a "comparatively rare Literary English word which owes its currency in the language to Lydgate’s borrowing from Gower" which is unattested in either literature from areas of intensive Scandinavian influence or any modern dialect. Furthermore, he believes Gower understood basken to mean "dash about", claiming its conventional interpretation as "bathe" is a misinterpretation of Lydgate's reproduced by modern scholars. However, the MED provides examples of basken meaning "bathe" in pharmaceutical and craft contexts, some of which predate Gower, vitiating Whitehall's claims and raising the possibility that basken was specialised technical terminology that would be both naturally absent from literature until Gower consciously employed it and unknown to the archetypical traditional dialect speaker employed in agriculture. Etymology templates: {{bor+|enm|non|baðask|nocap=1}} borrowed from Old Norse baðask Head templates: {{head|enm|verb|head=}} basken, {{enm-verb|stem=bask}} basken (third-person singular simple present basketh, present participle baskende, baskynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle basked), {{tlb|enm|rare}} (rare) Inflection templates: {{enm-conj-wk|bask|inf2=0|y=0}} Forms: basketh [present, singular, third-person], baskende [participle, present], baskynge [participle, present], basked [first-person, indicative, participle, past, singular, third-person], no-table-tags [table-tags], basken [infinitive], to basken [infinitive], baske [infinitive], baske [first-person, present, singular], basked [first-person, past, singular], baskest [present, second-person, singular], baskedest [past, second-person, singular], basketh [present, singular, third-person], basked [past, singular, third-person], baske [present, singular, subjunctive], basked [past, singular, subjunctive], baske [imperative, present, singular], - [imperative, past, singular], basken [plural, present], baske [plural, present], baskeden [past, plural], baskede [past, plural], basketh [imperative, plural, present], baske [imperative, plural, present], - [imperative, past, plural], baskynge [participle, present], baskende [participle, present], basked [participle, past]
  1. (reflexive) To bathe; to soak oneself in liquid. Tags: rare, reflexive
    Sense id: en-basken-enm-verb-BRVm8KSw Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 28 32 39
  2. (transitive) To soak, steep or dip something in liquid (hide in alum, fabric in dye) Tags: rare, transitive
    Sense id: en-basken-enm-verb-8i3SzZrK Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 28 32 39
  3. (transitive) To use a wettened poultice on the body. Tags: rare, transitive
    Sense id: en-basken-enm-verb-wYx5d5uy Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 2 entries, Pages with entries, Crafts Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 28 32 39 Disambiguation of Pages with 2 entries: 22 22 56 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 16 15 69 Disambiguation of Crafts: 26 25 49
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Categories (other): Medicine Disambiguation of Medicine: 0 0 0
{
  "categories": [
    {
      "_dis": "0 0 0",
      "kind": "other",
      "langcode": "enm",
      "name": "Medicine",
      "orig": "enm:Medicine",
      "parents": [],
      "source": "w+disamb"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "word": "bask"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "baðask",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "borrowed from Old Norse baðask",
      "name": "bor+"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably borrowed from Old Norse baðask, reflexive of baða (“to bathe”); compare busken (“to prepare”) for a parallel formation from an Old Norse reflexive.\nEtymological notes\nThe traditional derivation from baðask agrees better with the verb's Middle English semantics than alternative derivations from other Old Norse etymons such as bakask (“to bake oneself”) or baska (“to heat, warm”). However, Whitehall entirely denies the derivation of basken from Scandinavian since it is a \"comparatively rare Literary English word which owes its currency in the language to Lydgate’s borrowing from Gower\" which is unattested in either literature from areas of intensive Scandinavian influence or any modern dialect. Furthermore, he believes Gower understood basken to mean \"dash about\", claiming its conventional interpretation as \"bathe\" is a misinterpretation of Lydgate's reproduced by modern scholars.\nHowever, the MED provides examples of basken meaning \"bathe\" in pharmaceutical and craft contexts, some of which predate Gower, vitiating Whitehall's claims and raising the possibility that basken was specialised technical terminology that would be both naturally absent from literature until Gower consciously employed it and unknown to the archetypical traditional dialect speaker employed in agriculture.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "basketh",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskende",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskynge",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "indicative",
        "participle",
        "past",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "no-table-tags",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "table-tags"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "enm-conj-wk",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "inflection-template"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basken",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "infinitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "to basken",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "infinitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "infinitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "present",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "past",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskest",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "second-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskedest",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "second-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basketh",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "subjunctive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "singular",
        "subjunctive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "present",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "past",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basken",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskeden",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskede",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basketh",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "plural",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "plural",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "past",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskynge",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskende",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "verb",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "basken",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "stem": "bask"
      },
      "expansion": "basken (third-person singular simple present basketh, present participle baskende, baskynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle basked)",
      "name": "enm-verb"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "rare"
      },
      "expansion": "(rare)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "inflection_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bask",
        "inf2": "0",
        "y": "0"
      },
      "name": "enm-conj-wk"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To bathe; to soak oneself in liquid."
      ],
      "id": "en-basken-enm-verb-BRVm8KSw",
      "links": [
        [
          "bathe",
          "bathe"
        ],
        [
          "soak",
          "soak"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(reflexive) To bathe; to soak oneself in liquid."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare",
        "reflexive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To soak, steep or dip something in liquid (hide in alum, fabric in dye)"
      ],
      "id": "en-basken-enm-verb-8i3SzZrK",
      "links": [
        [
          "soak",
          "soak"
        ],
        [
          "steep",
          "steep"
        ],
        [
          "dip",
          "dip"
        ],
        [
          "liquid",
          "liquid"
        ],
        [
          "hide",
          "hide#English"
        ],
        [
          "alum",
          "alum#English"
        ],
        [
          "fabric",
          "fabric#English"
        ],
        [
          "dye",
          "dye#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To soak, steep or dip something in liquid (hide in alum, fabric in dye)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 39",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 22 56",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 2 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 15 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "26 25 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "enm",
          "name": "Crafts",
          "orig": "enm:Crafts",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To use a wettened poultice on the body."
      ],
      "id": "en-basken-enm-verb-wYx5d5uy",
      "links": [
        [
          "use",
          "use"
        ],
        [
          "wetten",
          "wetten"
        ],
        [
          "poultice",
          "poultice"
        ],
        [
          "body",
          "body"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To use a wettened poultice on the body."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbaskən/"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Iowa City",
    "John Gower",
    "John Lydgate"
  ],
  "word": "basken"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English lemmas",
    "Middle English rare terms",
    "Middle English terms borrowed from Old Norse",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old Norse",
    "Middle English verbs",
    "Middle English weak verbs",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "enm:Crafts",
    "enm:Medicine"
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "English",
      "lang_code": "en",
      "word": "bask"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "baðask",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "borrowed from Old Norse baðask",
      "name": "bor+"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably borrowed from Old Norse baðask, reflexive of baða (“to bathe”); compare busken (“to prepare”) for a parallel formation from an Old Norse reflexive.\nEtymological notes\nThe traditional derivation from baðask agrees better with the verb's Middle English semantics than alternative derivations from other Old Norse etymons such as bakask (“to bake oneself”) or baska (“to heat, warm”). However, Whitehall entirely denies the derivation of basken from Scandinavian since it is a \"comparatively rare Literary English word which owes its currency in the language to Lydgate’s borrowing from Gower\" which is unattested in either literature from areas of intensive Scandinavian influence or any modern dialect. Furthermore, he believes Gower understood basken to mean \"dash about\", claiming its conventional interpretation as \"bathe\" is a misinterpretation of Lydgate's reproduced by modern scholars.\nHowever, the MED provides examples of basken meaning \"bathe\" in pharmaceutical and craft contexts, some of which predate Gower, vitiating Whitehall's claims and raising the possibility that basken was specialised technical terminology that would be both naturally absent from literature until Gower consciously employed it and unknown to the archetypical traditional dialect speaker employed in agriculture.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "basketh",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskende",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskynge",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "indicative",
        "participle",
        "past",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "no-table-tags",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "table-tags"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "enm-conj-wk",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "inflection-template"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basken",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "infinitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "to basken",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "infinitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "infinitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "present",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "past",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskest",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "second-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskedest",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "second-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basketh",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "subjunctive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "singular",
        "subjunctive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "present",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "past",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basken",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskeden",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskede",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basketh",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "plural",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baske",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "plural",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "-",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "imperative",
        "past",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskynge",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "baskende",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "basked",
      "source": "conjugation",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "verb",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "basken",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "stem": "bask"
      },
      "expansion": "basken (third-person singular simple present basketh, present participle baskende, baskynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle basked)",
      "name": "enm-verb"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "rare"
      },
      "expansion": "(rare)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "inflection_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bask",
        "inf2": "0",
        "y": "0"
      },
      "name": "enm-conj-wk"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Middle English reflexive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To bathe; to soak oneself in liquid."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "bathe",
          "bathe"
        ],
        [
          "soak",
          "soak"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(reflexive) To bathe; to soak oneself in liquid."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare",
        "reflexive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Middle English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To soak, steep or dip something in liquid (hide in alum, fabric in dye)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "soak",
          "soak"
        ],
        [
          "steep",
          "steep"
        ],
        [
          "dip",
          "dip"
        ],
        [
          "liquid",
          "liquid"
        ],
        [
          "hide",
          "hide#English"
        ],
        [
          "alum",
          "alum#English"
        ],
        [
          "fabric",
          "fabric#English"
        ],
        [
          "dye",
          "dye#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To soak, steep or dip something in liquid (hide in alum, fabric in dye)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Middle English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To use a wettened poultice on the body."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "use",
          "use"
        ],
        [
          "wetten",
          "wetten"
        ],
        [
          "poultice",
          "poultice"
        ],
        [
          "body",
          "body"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To use a wettened poultice on the body."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbaskən/"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Iowa City",
    "John Gower",
    "John Lydgate"
  ],
  "word": "basken"
}

Download raw JSONL data for basken meaning in Middle English (5.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Middle English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-31 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-20 using wiktextract (e97c820 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.