Cataract - The Portcullis of the Eye

A depiction of how a cataract may affect someone's sight
(photo by Clare Louise Thomas, courtesy of ORBIS)

CATARACT

Noun & verb. Late Middle English.

[Latin cataracta waterfall, floodgate, portcullis, from Greek kataractes, -rrh- down-rushing (water etc.),

probably from katarassein formed as CATA- + arassein strike, smash. In sense 2 apparent figurative use of sense 'portcullis'.]

A1(a) noun. obsolete. In plural. Floodgates, specifically of heaven (Genesis 7:11, 8:2). LME-L17

A1(b) noun. transferred. A waterspout. M16-M17

A2 noun. MEDICINE. (A condition of) partial or complete opacity of the lens of the eye. LME

A3 noun. A waterfall, specifically a large and sheer one; a torrent. L16

A4 noun. obsolete. A portcullis; the grating of a window. rare. M17-M19

B1 verb trans. Pour in a torrent. rare. L18

B2 verb intrans. Fall in or like a cataract. M19

Also:

cataractal adj. of the nature of a cataract. L19

cataractic obs. adj. (rare) cataractal. L17-E19

cataractous adj. of or affected by cataract of the eye. E19

Cataract arrived in English via the Greek for 'waterfall', was adopted into Latin to also mean 'portcullis', which was then figuratively applied to the ubiquitous eye condition; few etymologies in the English language convey with such poignancy the human story behind a word. For the approximately 20 million people that suffer from cataracts worldwide, their sight can become just like straining to look through a static sheet of water, or oil smeared on a pane of glass. Causing 51% of the world's blindness and disproportionately hitting developing countries due to limited access to eye care, cataracts become like a portcullis in not only being a physical barrier to good sight, but a social barrier that limits opportunities in work, education and mobility.

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