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caesius

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Caesius

Latin

Etymology

Literally 'cutting, piercing', from caedō (“I cut”)

Pronunciation

Adjective

caesius (feminine caesia, neuter caesium); first/second-declension adjective

  1. (of the eyes) blue
    • c. 80 BCE – 15 BCE, Vitruvius, On Architecture 6.1.3.10:
      [...] ex eō quoque, <quae> sub septentriōnibus nūtriuntur gentēs, inmānibus corporibus, candidīs colōribus, dīrēctō capillō et rūfō, oculīs caesiīs [...]
      From that as well, those nations who are nourished under the North Star, [are] of great bodies, shining white complexions, the quality of their hair is straight and reddish, they have blue eyes [...]
    • 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 11.142.5:
      Praetereā aliī (oculī) contuentur longinqua, aliī nisi prope admōta nōn cernunt. multōrum vīsus fulgōre sōlis cōnstat, nūbilō diē nōn cernentium nec post occāsūs. aliī interdiū hebetiōrēs, noctū praeter cēterōs cernunt. dē geminīs pūpillīs aut quibus noxiī vīsūs essent satis dīximus. caesiī in tenebrīs clāriōrēs. ferunt Ti. Caesarī, nec aliī genitōrum mortālium, fuisse nātūram <ut> expergēfactus noctū paulīsper haut aliō modō quam lūce clārā contuērētur omnia, paulātim tenebrīs sēsē obdūcentibus.
      Other than that, some eyes are far-sighted, some eyes are near-sighted. Many eyes can only see in daylight and can't see things well at night nor after a sunset. Some eyes are weaker in daylight, but in the nighttime they see better than all the rest. I have said enough about doubled pupils or faults with eyesight. Blue eyes are brighter in the dark. They say that the Caesar Tiberius, and no other born mortal, had such a natural condition, that whenever he was roused at night, he could see everything in the dark for a while just as if it were in bright light, with the darkness then gradually drawing itself around him. (NB: Pliny describes sight according to the extramission theory of vision, a widespread historical Greek theory that the eyes project light, which enables sight; so he describes blue eyes as emitting more light and therefore seeing better in the dark).
  2. (of a person, sometimes derogatory) blue-eyed
    • 163 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Heauton Timorumenos 1062:
      Sō: gnāte mī, ego pol tibi dabō illam lepidam, quam tū facile amēs, / fīliam Phānocratae nostrī. Cl.: rūfamne illam virginem, / caesiam, sparsō ōre, aduncō nāsō? nōn possum, pater. / Ch.: heia ut ēlegāns est! crēdās animum ibi esse. Sō.: aliam dabō.
      Sostrata: My son, I'll give you that wonderful one, you'll love her easily, she's the daughter of our Phanocrates. Clitipho: That wall-eyed redhead / with freckles and a hooked nose? I can't, father. / Chremes: Heya, how choosy he is. Looks like he really cares. Sostrata: I'll give you another.
  3. customary translation of γλαυκῶπις (glaukôpis); as well as denoting the associated eye color
    • 45 BCE, Cicero, De Natura Deorum 1.83.6:
      Nōn pudet igitur physicum id est speculātōrem vēnātōremque nātūrae ab animīs cōnsuētūdine inbūtīs petere testimōnium vēritātis? istō enim modō dīcere licēbit Iovem semper barbātum, Apollinem semper inberbem, caesiōs oculōs Minervae, caeruleōs esse Neptūnī.
      So are you then as a physicist, and this means explorer and chaser of nature, not ashamed to seek witness of truth from minds imbued with custom? If you do that, you can then say that Jupiter is always bearded, that Apollo never is, that Minerva has cesious eyes, that Neptune has cerulean.
    • c. 125 CE – c. 180 CE, Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights 2.26.19.1:
      Tum Frontō ad Fauōrīnum: [...] Nostrīs autem ueteribus "caesia" dicta est, quae ā Graecīs γλαυκῶπις, ut Nigidius ait, "dē colōre caelī quasi caelia."
      Then Fronto, to Favorinus: [...] And our ancients, they have called her 'caesia' who the Greeks call γλαυκῶπις, which is as Nigidius says, 'from heaven's hue, as if "caelia."'

Usage notes

  • Gray eyes were denoted with the color rāvus.
  • With regard to Greek equivalences, it is noted in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae dictionary that the Roman equation of γλαυκῶπις (glaukôpis) with caesia does not extend to γλαυκός (glaukós), whose frontline gloss is observed to be caeruleus (“deep (blue)”).
  • The color term caeruleus was originally not used for eyes, other than those of Neptune from Greek tradition. In the 1st century AD, the terms probably slightly evolved. The blue eyes of savage and menacing northern barbarians start being exaggeratedly described as caeruleī instead of caesiī in publicists' language (along with the stronger rutilus replacing rūfus about their hair, for impact). In addition, the already long-borrowed glaucus acquires, at least for a time, the sense of denoting the characteristic bright blue eyes of horses (considered to be only one color under this name), and is found describing the eyes of Augustus (Dīvō Augustō equōrum mōre glaucī [oculī] fuēre), who is in another source described as having caesiī eyes again. Elaborate prescientific Greek theories of color and vision abounded in the Roman Empire, and the use of color terminology was influenced in inobvious ways by these theories.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

More information singular, plural ...

Derived terms

  • caesitās
  • caesitius

Descendants

  • English: caesious, caesium

References

  • “caesius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “caesius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “caesius”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “caesius”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
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