oculus Latin · revision 5385

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Livius Andronicus|origins=ine-pro *h₃ekʷ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈɔ.kʊ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔː.ku.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''oculus''' ''m'' (genitive oculī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*ok(e)lo-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*h₃e/okʷ-(e)lo-|t=eye]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Most Indo-European languages have a root noun or an ''i''-stem for “eye”, so de Vaan thinks the Latin form with its suffix was built within Italic.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sa|अक्षि|tr=ákṣi|t=eye]], [[grc|ὄσσε|tr=ósse|t=the two eyes]], [[got|𐌰𐌿𐌲𐍉|tr=augō|t=eye]] and [[en|eye]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Livius Andronicus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Plautus has “my eyes hurt because the smoke is troublesome”.^(OLD 2012) Köbler places Livius Andronicus before 200 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the eye as a part of the body and as the organ of sight, and sight itself.^(OLD 2012) Phrases include ''in oculīs'' “in sight”, ''ante oculōs'' “before one's eyes”, and ''ab oculīs'' “out of sight”.^(OLD 2012) Plautus even forms a superlative ''oculissimus'' “dearest apple of my eye”.^(de Vaan 2008) It was also a bud or eye on a plant, and the slit in the bark into which a bud was grafted, whence [[inoculō]] “to graft”.^(OLD 2012)^(Etymonline)

+

+ Döderlein contrasts ''faciēs'' and ''oculī'', the face and eyes in a physical sense, with ''ōs'' and ''vultus'', the face as the expression of feeling.^(Döderlein 1874) The ''Appendix Probi'' censures the syncopated ''oclus'', the source of the Romance words.^(Appendix Probi) In British medieval Latin ''in ictū oculī'' was “in the twinkling of an eye”.^(DMLBS) Late Latin ''oculāris'' gave [[en|ocular]], ''inoculāre'' gave [[en|inoculate]], and [[m|en|oculus]] was borrowed in 1857.^(Etymonline) It survives in [[it|occhio]], [[fr|œil]] and [[es|ojo]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has eyes hurting from smoke.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of losing the eye with which one saw well.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-15th century – English ''inoculate'' is recorded, first of grafting.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|eye]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Sight, ''in oculīs'', in sight, ''ab oculīs'', out of sight.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A bud, eye (of a plant); the slit for a graft.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ocellus]]

+ * [[ocliferius]]

+ * [[oculāris]]

+ * [[oculārius]]

+ * [[oculātus]]

+ * [[oculeus]]

+ * [[oculicrepida]]

+ * [[oculissimus]]

+ * [[oculitus]]

+ * [[oculō]]

+ * [[centoculus]]

+ * [[lānoculus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[oculāriārius]]

+ * [[oculāriter]]

+ * [[oculāta]]

+ * [[en|ocular]]

+ * [[en|inoculate]]

+ * [[en|binocular]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}