cataract

• n. [眼科]白内障; 大滝; 豪雨、洪水; 急流
• vt.注ぐ

cata-、下方。-ract、流れる、注ぐ、語源不明。もともとは大きな滝のことだったが、後に白内障の婉曲表現として使われるようになった。

cataract

cataract: [15] Greek kataráktēs meant literally ‘swooping down, rushing down’; it was a derivative of the verb katarássein, a compound formed from the prefix katá- ‘down’ (which appears in a wide range of English words, including cataclysm, catalepsy, catalogue, catapult – literally ‘hurl down’ – and catastrophe) and the verb rássein ‘strike’.

Hence it was applied metaphorically to various things that ‘rush down’, including waterfalls and portcullises. The word passed into English via Latin cataracta, and the sense ‘opacity of the eye’s lens’ developed in the 16th century, probably as a metaphorical extension of the now obsolete ‘portcullis’.

cataract (n.)

early 15c., "a waterfall, floodgate," from Latin cataracta "waterfall," from Greek katarhaktes "waterfall, broken water; a kind of portcullis," noun use of an adjective compound meaning "swooping, down-rushing," from kata "down" (see cata-). The second element is traced either to arhattein "to strike hard" (in which case the compound is kat-arrhattein), or to rhattein "to dash, break."

Its alternative sense in Latin of "portcullis" probably was passed through French to form the English meaning "eye disease" (early 15c.), on the notion of "obstruction" (to eyesight).

1. He is an elderly gentleman who had a cataract operation.

白内障の手術を受けたことのある老人である。

2.The way is blocked by the tall cataract .

高懸濁の大きな滝が行く手を遮っている。

3.Age is not a factor in cataract surgery.

年齢は白内障手術に影響する要素ではありません。

4.As he stood there，this cataract on a sudden increased in volume.

彼がそこに立っていると、この滝は急に大きくなってきた。

5.The good news from the battlefields is becoming a cataract .

戦場からの良いニュースが奔流になりつつある。