Andrew Arth
12.16.19
Acta Submission
Verba Deep Dive
Generally defined as “an eye,” oculus (genitive: oculī, gender: masculine) is a word with numerous distinct and complex connotations which have been adapted by poets and rhetoricians alike, making it the 182nd most commonly used word. As the eyes are often regarded as the windows to the soul, the meaning of oculus takes on different, more idiomatic meanings when used in conjunction with other words. For example the phrase oculus interior refers to can refer to ones intellectual vision or their internal mind’s eye. The word likely was derived from another latin word “ocellatum” which referred to a stone with little spots, thus implying that the “oculus” is in fact a little spot on the larger stone which is the body. The word was also used playfully in nicknames for some Romans such as “Walterus cum Uno Oculo,” a man whose eye had been lost in battle. Furthermore, the word oculus inspired a series of architectural elements within places of worship which incorporated a circular window which provided an eye to the heavens and gods above; the architectural oculus appears at the top of the dome which characterizes the Pantheon in Rome.
“quae (natura) primum oculos membranis tenuissimis vestivit et saepsit … sed lubricos oculos fecit et mobiles” –Cicero, De Natura Deorum, Lines 59-61
“eloquentiam quam nullis nisi mentis oculis videre possumus,” –Cicero, Orator, 29, 101
Resources
2019. Logeion.Uchicago.Edu. Accessed December 17 2019. https://logeion.uchicago.edu/oculus.
2019. Bulgari-Istoria-2010.Com. Accessed December 17 2019. https://www.bulgari-istoria-2010.com/Rechnici/Etymological%20dictionary%20of%20Lat%20-%20de%20Vaan,%20Michiel_5820.pdf.
“De Natura Deorum Libri Tres”. 2019. Google Books. Accessed December 17 2019. https://books.google.com/books?id=PG9XAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=quae+(natura)+primum+oculos+membranis+tenuissimis+vestivit+et+saepsit+…+sed+lubricos+oculos+fecit+et+mobiles,+Cicero&source=bl&ots=iHoRbhlOHj&sig=ACfU3U1spyaOrh4D3R1W2OLUkKqOVS_4SQ&hl=en&ppis=_c&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5upfgzbvmAhUPzlkKHWYODHIQ6AEwAHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=quae%20(natura)%20primum%20oculos%20membranis%20tenuissimis%20vestivit%20et%20saepsit%20…%20sed%20lubricos%20oculos%20fecit%20et%20mobiles%2C%20Cicero&f=false.
“CICERO, Orator | Loeb Classical Library”. 2019. Loeb Classical Library. Accessed December 17 2019. https://www.loebclassics.com/view/marcus_tullius_cicero-orator/1939/pb_LCL342.307.xml.