caecus Latin · revision 6151

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *keh₂i-ko-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkae̯.kʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃɛː.kus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''caecus''' (feminine caeca, neuter caecum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*kaiko-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*kéh₂i-ko-|t=one-eyed]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[sga|cáech|t=one-eyed]], [[kw|cuic|t=one-eyed]] and [[got|𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍃|tr=haihs|t=one-eyed]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) The OLD compares [[sa|केकर|tr=kekara|t=squinting]] and [[grc|καικίας|tr=kaikías|t=north-east wind]], but de Vaan thinks neither is related.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008) The ko-derivatives are limited to a few languages, but the root *kh₂i- may be old and may have meant “alone, bare”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character says another is not short-sighted but blind.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant blind, lacking sight, and figuratively mentally or morally blind, undiscerning, as Cicero's Appius, blind for many years.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) 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.^(OLD 2012) From the dark it came to mean hidden, unseen, as a hidden danger, and Appius Claudius had the cognomen ''Caecus'' from his blindness.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it meant blind and dark, and of a spring hidden or dry.^(DMLBS) It survives in Italian ''cieco'', Spanish ''ciego'' and Portuguese ''cego''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|caecum]], the blind gut, comes from its neuter in ''intestīnum caecum'', recorded in 1721.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of Appius the Blind and of blind chance.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1721 – English ''caecum'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

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

+ # Mentally or morally blind, undiscerning.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Aimless, [[m|en|random]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(of fighting)'' Taking place in the dark.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(of night, clouds)'' Dark, [[m|en|impenetrable]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Hidden, unseen.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[caecigenus]]

+ * [[caecilia]]

+ * [[caecitās]]

+ * [[caecitūdō]]

+ * [[caecō]]

+ * [[caecūtiō]]

+ * [[caecultō]]

+ * [[Caeculus]]

+ * [[caecum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|caecum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}