Origin of the city name Basel

The site where the city of Basel is today was first mentioned by a Roman historical writer in the year 374 AD following the stay of the Roman emperor Valentinian The Great in this area. In his scripts, this historical writer called this place Basilia. To the present day, it is not known for certain what the meaning of this word is. During the Middle Ages, it was believed that the city name derived from the basilisk which was a symbol for the devil and of death (for more on the basilisk click here). Nevertheless, today other theories exist. One of them is that the name has a Celtic origin. Basel would thus derive from the Celtic word basios, meaning 'boar' ('Eber' in German). Others believe that, since the first mention of the name was Basilia, the name could derive from the Greek word basileia meaning 'queen'. 

As you can see, there are many theories concerning the origin of this city name and I'll leave it to you to decide which one you want to believe :-).

Happy Monday!

Laura





References
Gerber, Kurt (2006): Basler Sagen. Basel, Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, S. 9-10.
Heusler, Andreas (1917): Geschichte der Stadt Basel. Basel: Frobenius, S. 5.

Photo credit
http://www.bloomberg.com/ss/07/04/0423_efte/source/3.htm