ocellus

Forms

ocellus m (genitive ocellī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive of oculus (“eye”) with the suffix -ellus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives ⟨oculus⟩ from Proto-Italic *ok(e)lo- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃e/okʷ-(e)lo- (“eye”), a formation that is probably Latin rather than PIE, built on a root noun Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- or a verb “to see”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[4][5] where a lover says “let me kiss your little eyes, my delight”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a little eye, used mostly in tender or emotional language and in poetry, as Catullus' swollen little eyes and Ovid's eyes overcome by sleep.^[2][3] In Plautus it is already a term of endearment, “my darling, my rose”, the apple of one's eye, and it is also said of things one treasures.^[2][1] In grafting it is the incision in the bark that takes a bud, as in Pliny the Elder.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “little eye”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a lover's eyes and as an endearment.^[2][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of swollen eyes.^[3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a graft in the bark.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A little eye.^[2][3][1][6]
2. A term of endearment, darling.^[2][1]
3. In grafting, an incision for a bud.^[2]

Word family

• ocellātus
• ocellulus
• subocellus

Related words

• oculus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson