ocular

Forms

ocular m or f (masculine and feminine plural oculares)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Late Latin oculāris (“of the eyes”).^[2][3][1] The Latin adjective is formed from oculus (“eye”) with the suffix -āris.^[4][1] Gómez de Silva traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *okʷ- (“to see”).^[5]

Corominas lists the adjective among the learned words beside the inherited ojo, which continues the same Latin noun.^[3] French oculaire and Italian oculare are the same borrowing.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in medical translations of the 15th century: the Arte complida de cirugía, before 1450, speaks of the hueso ocular, the bone around the eye, and so does the translation of Lanfranco's surgery.^[7][8] The medical terminology dictionary also dates the word to 1450.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the adjective spread from anatomy to the sense “done or seen with one's own eyes”: Las Casas writes of experiencia ocular and of an ocular testigo, and a document from Santa Marta (1548) of something seen por vista ocular.^[7][10] Testigo ocular “eyewitness” has been a set phrase ever since.^[11][2]

Optics gave the noun: Autoridades records ocular as the lens nearest the eye in a telescope, quoting Tosca, and Salvá noted in 1846 that it was much used as a noun.^[12][13] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 extended it to the lens or set of lenses of telescopes and microscopes.^[14] Alemany (1917) records an old figurative sense “palpable, evident” and the artillery term ocular del alza, the sight of a gun.^[15]

Timeline

• before 1450 – hueso ocular in the Arte complida de cirugía.^[7]
• 1451 – the word in the Spanish translation of Lanfranco's Cirugía mayor.^[8][7]
• 1527–1550 – Las Casas uses experiencia ocular “first-hand experience”.^[7]
• 1548 – first record in the Americas, at Santa Marta: por vista ocular.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines the adjective and the lens of a telescope.^[12]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros explains testigos oculares as those who have seen a thing themselves.^[6]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology ocularis and the noun sense for telescopes and microscopes.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the eyes (ojo); ocular: Sufre una infección ocular desde hace días.^[2][1]
2. Done by means of the eyes, seen in person: El juez ordenó una inspección ocular del lugar.^[2][16]

Noun

1. (optics) The eyepiece of an optical instrument, the lens or set of lenses at the end where the observer looks, which magnifies the image given by the objetivo.^[2][1]

Word family

• ocularmente

Related words

• ojo
• oculista
• inocular
• Latin oculus

Usage notes

Common phrases are testigo ocular “eyewitness”, inspección ocular “on-site inspection” and globo ocular “eyeball”.^[16][17] In optics an ocular celeste inverts the image and an ocular terrestre sets it upright again.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. ocular
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ojo
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. ocularis
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 502
6. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 694
7. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ocular
8. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. ocular
9. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. ocular
10. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. ocular
11. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1278
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 17
13. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 763
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 753
15. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1214
16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ocular
17. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. ocular