ocularis

Forms

oculāris (neuter oculāre, adverb oculāriter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin oculus + -āris.^[1][2][3] Oculus goes back to Proto-Italic *ok(e)lo-; de Vaan thinks the Latin formation probably not of Proto-Indo-European date.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pelagonius' veterinary handbook has the neuter as a noun, oculare, an eye salve.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective, “of the eyes”, it is post-classical:^[7] Ammianus Marcellinus has oculares casus, diseases of the eyes, and the veterinary writer Vegetius has the membranes of the eye and the medicus ocularis, an eye doctor.^[2][7][5] Sidonius Apollinaris has the adverb oculariter, “with one's own eyes”.^[2][7]

In Medieval Latin it also meant “perceived by the eye”, and as a neuter noun a pair of spectacles;^[8] Renaissance writers likewise call spectacles ocularia.^[9] English ocular comes from the Late Latin word.^[10]

Timeline

• 360 AD – Pelagonius uses oculare for an eye salve.^[3][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of eye diseases as oculares casus.^[5][6]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses medicus ocularis for an eye doctor.^[7][6]
• c. 1500 – Borrowed into English as ocular.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the eyes, ocular.^[7][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) Seen with the eyes.^[8]

Noun

1. (neuter) An eye salve.^[3][2]
2. (Medieval Latin, neuter) Spectacles, eyeglasses.^[8][9]

Word family

• subocularis

Related words

• English ocular

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c 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 Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com