caecus

• coecus (misspelling)
• cēcus (in manuscripts)

From Proto-Italic *kaikos (“blind, eyeless”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ikos (“one-eyed”). Cognates include Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍃 (haihs), Old Irish cáech (“one-eyed”), caoch (“blind”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkae̯.kʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃɛː.kus]

caecus (feminine caeca, neuter caecum); first/second-declension adjective

1. blind
   1. (literally) blind (not seeing)
   2. (figuratively) blind, blinded (mentally or morally)
   3. (figuratively) blind, at random, vague, indiscriminate, aimless, meaningless, acting blindly
      • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.209–210:

        “[...] caecīque in nūbibus ignēs / terrificant animōs et inānia murmura miscent?”

        “And [why do] aimless fires in the clouds terrify [our] spirits, and [their] meaningless murmurs unsettle [us]?”
        (King Iarbas dares to question whether lightning and thunder truly signify Jupiter’s disapproval of human affairs.)

   4. (transferred sense, botany) without buds or eyes
2. invisible
   1. (literally) invisible (that cannot be seen)
   2. (figuratively) invisible, concealed, hidden, secret, obscure, dark (that cannot be known)
3. opaque, dark, uncertain
   1. (literally) opaque (that obstructs sight; not transparent)
   2. (figuratively) dark, gloomy, thick, dense, obscure; uncertain, doubtful (that obstructs perception)

First/second-declension adjective.

• caeco
• caecum (noun)

• caecitās
• Caecilius

• “caecus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “caecus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caecus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • Fortune makes men shortsighted, infatuates them: fortuna caecos homines efficit, animos occaecat
    
  • (ambiguous) to have no principles: caeco impetu ferri