Etymologically
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cataract

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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.
  • 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