cataract

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkætəɹækt/ (UK); /ˈkætəˌɹæk(t)/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cataracte,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin cataracta, catarracta (“waterfall; floodgate; portcullis”),^[2][5][6][7] from Ancient Greek καταρράκτης (katarrháktēs), καταράκτης (kataráktēs, “waterfall; portcullis”),^[2][5][6][8] a noun use of an adjective meaning “rushing down”,^[6][9] from κατά (katá, “down”) (see cata-) and either ἀράσσειν (arássein, “to strike, smash”) or ῥάσσειν (rhássein, “to dash, break”).^{[2][5][6][7][8]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A portcullis, or the grating of a window (1360–1 in the OED); in the plural, the floodgates of heaven, as in Genesis (1430).^[10][11][12]

Semantic evolution

Weekley notes that the oldest Middle English sense is “portcullis”, and that the word is used of the floodgates of heaven before it means a waterfall.^[11] From 1555 it was applied to waterspouts,^[10] and since 1594 to a large waterfall falling headlong over a precipice, as distinct from a cascade.^[10][5] It was then extended to any violent downpour or rush of water (1634).^[10] The medical sense, an opacity of the lens of the eye, is recorded probably before 1425 in Barnhart and in the 16th century in Hoad;^[5][12] it is probably a figurative use of the “portcullis” sense, as though a grating had been lowered over the eye.^[9][12][4] Klein instead links it to an Arabic word meaning both “water” and “cataract”.^[8]

Timeline

• 1360–1 – a portcullis (obsolete).^[10]
• 1430 – the floodgates of heaven.^[10]
• before 1425 – the eye disease (Barnhart).^[5]
• 1555 – a waterspout.^[10]
• 1594 – a large waterfall.^[10]
• 1634 – a violent downpour.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An opacity of the lens of the eye or its capsule, causing impaired vision or blindness.
2. A large or high waterfall.
3. A great downpour; a deluge.
4. (obsolete) A portcullis; a floodgate.

Verb

1. To fall or pour like a cataract.

Related words

• cascade
• waterfall
• cataclysm
• portcullis

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press