base

"base" は「基本」とか「基づく」のような意味しか知らなかったのですが、「国家の品格」（藤原正彦著　Translated by Giles Murray）の中で何度も使われている意味は全く別の意味を持っています。 The triumph of capitalism is an illusionと題されたパラグラフの文から引用します。
According to the philosophy of the samurai, which I will go into in more detail later, this logic would be called "base." It is base for someone big to pick on someone small, it is base for someone strong to bully weak. This is what the samurai spirit teaches.
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What steps should we take to deal with bullying? Rather than treat the symptoms by providing counselors, what we need to do is teach the concept of baseness in accordance with the samurai spirit.
著者の元々の日本語は「卑怯」でこれに訳者が "base" を当てはめています。 "base" を辞書で調べます。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: 1) having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality ("That liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble- Edmund Burke") 2) not adhering to ethical or moral principles ("Base and unpatriotic motives")
・Dictionary.com: 1.morally low; without estimable personal qualities; dishonorable; meanspirited; selfish; cowardly. 2.of little or no value; worthless: hastily composed of base materials. 3.debased or counterfeit: an attempt to eliminate the base coinage. 4.characteristic of or befitting an inferior person or thing. 5.of illegitimate birth. 6.not classical or refined: base language.
重要な「基本」が何故「卑怯」な意味を持つのかと思いましたが、 "base." には "low"、"short" の意味があり、そこから「卑怯」につながった様です。
Figurative sense of "low in the moral scale" is first attested 1530s in English, earlier "servile" (1520s). Base metals (c.1600) were worthless in contrast to noble or precious metals.
そう言えば貴金属に対して鉄などは重要で基本的な金属に関わらず卑金属と日本語で呼ばれますね。
私は "short" personですが "base" な事はしたくないですね。