canthus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin canthus (the tire of a wheel).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkænθəs/

Noun

canthus (plural canthi or canthuses)

  1. (anatomy) Either corner of the eye, where the eyelids meet.
    • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita:
      the lowly East with its deer head (dark trace of long tear at inner canthus
    • 2004, Andrew Sean Greer, The Confessions of Max Tivoli, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 263:
      I could sit here while the milk makes white shadows in its glass, while darkness mutters behind the window, and wait for a tear to show itself in the creased canthus of your eye.
    • 2015 August 26, “Effects of Relaxing Music on Mental Fatigue Induced by a Continuous Performance Task: Behavioral and ERPs Evidence”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:
      A ground electrode located between Fpz and Fz. The electro-oculogram (EOG) was recorded bipolarly from two electrodes placed at the outer canthi of the right eye and below the left eye.

Derived terms

- canthoplasty

Translations

Anagrams

Latin

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Alternative spelling of cantus. The term for rim of a wheel is ultimately of Gaulish origin, from Proto-Celtic *kantos (corner, rim). Related to Breton kant (circle), Old Irish cétad (round seat), Welsh cant (rim, edge).

The frequent spelling with -th- is due to the influence of unrelated (or possible Indo-European cognate) κανθός (kanthós, corner of the eye) (see Etymology 2), which after its borrowing became conflated with the Gaulish term for "rim" in Latin.[1]

Noun

canthus m (genitive canthī); second declension

  1. the iron ring around a carriage wheel; the tire[2]
  2. a wheel
Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative canthus canthī
Genitive canthī canthōrum
Dative canthō canthīs
Accusative canthum canthōs
Ablative canthō canthīs
Vocative canthe canthī
Descendants
  • Catalan: cantó
  • Middle Dutch: kant
  • French: chant; canthus
  • Italian: canto
  • Portuguese: canto
  • Romanian: cantusul
  • Spanish: canto
  • ? Albanian: kënd[3]
  • Dutch: kant
  • English: canthus

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek κανθός (kanthós, corner of the eye), which became conflated with the above.

Noun

canthus m (genitive canthī); second declension

  1. (anatomy) corner of the eye
Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative canthus canthī
Genitive canthī canthōrum
Dative canthō canthīs
Accusative canthum canthōs
Ablative canthō canthīs
Vocative canthe canthī

References

  1. Wolfgang Pfeifer, editor (1993), “Kante”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (in German), 2nd edition, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN
  2. https://latinlexicon.org/definition.php?p1=2008305
  3. Topalli, K. (2017) “canthus”, in Fjalor Etimologjik i Gjuhës Shqipe, Durrës, Albania: Jozef, page 1409
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