Etymologically
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caecus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkae̯.kʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃɛː.kus][1]

Forms

caecus (feminine caeca, neuter caecum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kaiko-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂i-ko- (“one-eyed”).[2][1] Cognate with Old Irish cáech (“one-eyed”), Cornish cuic (“one-eyed”) and Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍃 (haihs, “one-eyed”).[2][3][4] The OLD compares Sanskrit केकर (kekara, “squinting”) and Ancient Greek καικίας (kaikías, “north-east wind”), but de Vaan thinks neither is related.[3][2] The ko-derivatives are limited to a few languages, but the root *kh₂i- may be old and may have meant “alone, bare”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character says another is not short-sighted but blind.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant blind, lacking sight, and figuratively mentally or morally blind, undiscerning, as Cicero's Appius, blind for many years.[3][6] It was used of what has no clear aim, random, as Cicero's blind chance, of fighting in the dark, and of night or clouds that are dark and impenetrable.[3] From the dark it came to mean hidden, unseen, as a hidden danger, and Appius Claudius had the cognomen Caecus from his blindness.[6][7]

In Medieval Latin it meant blind and dark, and of a spring hidden or dry.[8] It survives in Italian cieco, Spanish ciego and Portuguese cego.[1] English caecum, the blind gut, comes from its neuter in intestīnum caecum, recorded in 1721.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Appius the Blind and of blind chance.[6][5]
  • 1721 – English caecum is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Blind.[3]
  2. Mentally or morally blind, undiscerning.[3]
  3. Aimless, random.[3]
  4. (of fighting) Taking place in the dark.[3]
  5. (of night, clouds) Dark, impenetrable.[3]
  6. Hidden, unseen.[6][7]

Word family

  • caecigenus
  • caecilia
  • caecitās
  • caecitūdō
  • caecō
  • caecūtiō
  • caecultō
  • Caeculus
  • caecum
  • English caecum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com