visus Latin · revision 7026

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Lucretius|origins=ine-pro *weyd-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vīsus''' ''m'' (genitive vīsūs); fourth declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from [[videō]] “to see” with the suffix of action nouns [[-tus]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Italic *weissus or *wissus, from [[ine-pro|*wéydˢtus]], from the root [[ine-pro|*weyd-|t=to see]], and compares [[sga|fius|t=knowledge]].^(Wiktionary) Isidore says it is named because it is livelier and swifter than the other senses.^(Isidore)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest citations are from Lucretius, of the faculty of sight and of a thing seen.^(OLD 2012) Köbler's first source is Cicero; he dates Lucretius 96–55 BC and Cicero 81–43 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant the faculty of seeing, sight, as Lucretius' ''vīsus oculōrum'', and in Virgil a glance or gaze.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) It meant a thing seen, a sight, in Virgil a vision in a dream, and visible form or appearance.^(OLD 2012) Pliny reports from Cicero that women with double pupils harm by their gaze.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant sight.^(Stelten 1995) In Medieval Latin it meant a vision or dream, a legal view or inspection, and in England the view of frankpledge.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS) It survives in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese ''viso'' and Old French ''vis'' “face”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of sight.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the gaze.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a vision.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The sense of sight, [[m|en|vision]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # A look, glance, gaze.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A sight; a vision, apparition.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Appearance, aspect.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A legal inspection, view.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[*vīsāticum]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[videō]]

+ * [[visibilis]]

+ * [[visiō]]

+ * [[vīsum]]

+ * [[vīsō]]

+ * [[en|visible]]

+ * [[en|vision]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Vīsus, -a, -um'' is also the perfect participle of ''videō'', as in Caesar's ''prō vīsō renūntiāre'' “to report as seen”.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}