- lens
- 1690s, from L. lens (gen. lentis) "lentil," on analogy of the double-convex shape. See lentil.
- lenticular
- 1650s, from L.L. lenticularis, from lenticula, dim. of lens "lentil" (see lens).
- zoom
- 1886, of echoic origin. Gained popularity c.1917 as aviators began to use it; zoom lens is 1936.
- Schmidt
- type of astronomical telescope lens used for photography, 1939, from Estonian-born Ger. optician Bernhard Voldemar Schmidt (1879-1935), who invented it.
- shutter
- 1540s, "one who shuts" (see shut); meaning "moveable wooden or iron screen for a window" is from 1683. Photographic sense of "device for opening and closing the aperture of a lens" is from 1862. The verb is recorded from 1826. Shutter-bug "enthusiastic amateur photographer" is from 1940.
- pan (v.)
- "follow with a camera," 1913 shortening of panoramic, from panoramic camera (1878). Meaning "to swing from one object to another in a scene" is from 1931. Panavision (1955) is a proprietary name of a type of wide-screen lens.
- convex
- 1570s, from M.Fr. convexe, from L. convexus "vaulted, arched," pp. of convehere "to bring together," from com- "together" + vehere "to bring" (see vehicle). Possibly from the idea of vaults carried together to meet at the point of a roof. Related: Convexity (c.1600). Convex lens is from 1822.
- contact (n.)
- 1620s, from L. contactus "a touching," pp. of contingere "to touch, seize," from com- "together" + tangere "to touch" (see tangent). The verb is 1834, "put in contact;" meaning "get in touch with" is 1927, Amer.Eng. As a signal to the person about to spin an aircraft propeller that the ignition is switched on, the word was in use by 1913. Contact lens is first recorded 1888; short form contact is from 1961.
- glaucoma
- 1640s, from Gk. glaukoma "cataract, opacity of the lens" (cataracts and glaucoma not distinguished until c.1705), from -oma + glaukos, an adj. of uncertain origin, used in Homer of the sea as "gleaming, silvery" (apparently without a color connotation); used later with a sense of "bluish-green, gray," of olive leaves and eyes. Homer's glauk-opis Athene could be a "bright-eyed" or a "gray-eyed" goddess. Gk. for "owl" was glauk- from its bright, staring eyes.
- lentil
- mid-13c., from O.Fr. lentille, from V.L. *lenticula, dim. of L. lens (gen. lentis) "lentil," cognate with Gk. lathyros, O.C.S. lesta.
- focus
- 1640s, from L. focus "hearth, fireplace," of unknown origin, used in post-classical times for "fire" itself, taken by Kepler (1604) in a mathematical sense for "point of convergence," perhaps on analogy of the burning point of a lens (the purely optical sense of the word may have existed before Kepler, but it is not recorded). Introduced into English 1650s by Hobbes. Sense transfer to "center of activity or energy" is first recorded 1796. The verb is first attested 1814 in the literal sense; the figurative sense is recorded earlier (1807). Related: Focused; focusing; focussed; focussing.
- camera
- 1708, "vaulted building," from L. camera "vaulted room" (cf. It. camera, Sp. camara, Fr. chambre), from Gk. kamara "vaulted chamber," from PIE base *kam- "to arch." The word also was used early 18c. as a short form of Mod.L. camera obscura "dark chamber" (a black box with a lens that could project images of external objects), contrasted with camera lucida (Latin for "light chamber"), which uses prisms to produce an image on paper beneath the instrument, which can be traced. It became the word for "picture-taking device" when modern photography began, c.1840 (extended to television filming devices 1928). Camera-shy is from 1922. O.C.S. komora, Lith. kamara, O.Ir. camra all are borrowings from Latin.