occaeco Latin · revision 36932

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la caecus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɔkˈkae̯.koː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [otˈt͡ʃɛː.ko]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''occaecō''' (present infinitive occaecāre, perfect active occaecāvī, supine occaecātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''obcaecō'', a spelling found from the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' on.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ob-|caecō|t2=to make blind]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) a verb formed from [[m|la|caecus|t=blind]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan traces the adjective to [[itc-pro|*kaiko-]] and [[ine-pro|*keh₂i-ko-|t=one-eyed]], noting that such ⟨-ko-⟩ derivatives need not go back to Proto-Indo-European, although the root probably does.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Cognate with [[sga|cáech|t=one-eyed]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Plautus,^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) where in the ''Menaechmi'' a speaker asks whether the sun is not quite darkened beside the radiance of this body.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first uses are of darkening or blotting out light: Pacuvius speaks of the blackness of night and clouds that darkens everything, and Livy of a thick fog that had blotted out the daylight.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Of people and eyes it meant to blind, usually for a time: Livy describes an enemy blinded by dust, and Celsus people who suddenly lose their sight without any visible cause.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Lewis and Short find the literal sense of blinding only after Augustus.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Figuratively it meant to blind the mind: in Cicero the hope of plunder blinds men's minds, and people are blinded by desire.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) It also meant to make a speech obscure, as when Cicero says that an obscure narrative darkens the whole speech.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) In farming it was used of hiding seed in the earth and of stopping up ditches,^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) and in the ''Culex'' fear paralyses the limbs.^(Conte 2010)^(Gaffiot 2016) The glossaries render it with [[m|grc|ἐκτυφλόω|tr=ektuphlóō]] and ''excaecō''.^(CGL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the sun being darkened.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of the darkness of night and storm clouds.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of minds blinded by greed and of an obscure speech.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of an enemy blinded by dust and of fog blotting out the day.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of sudden blindness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|blind]], deprive of sight (usually for a time).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # To [[m|en|darken]], blot out (light).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To blind (the mind), [[m|en|delude]].^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To make [[m|en|obscure]] or unintelligible.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # To hide from view, [[m|en|bury]] (seed); to stop up (ditches).^(OLD 2012)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014)

+ # To [[m|en|paralyse]].^(Conte 2010)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[occaecātiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[caecō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}