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Carpal Tunnel
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FWIW, Robert Graves thought the whole one-eye thang was because they wore eyepatches, being blacksmiths and all, to keep sparks out of their eyes. Cyclops means (most likely) round-eye.<br><br> Looking back over The Greek Myths I see that Graves actually said they were bronzesmiths and that Cyclops meant 'ring-eyed'.
The Cyclopes seem to have been a guild of Early Helladic bronzesmiths. Cyclops means 'ring-eyed', and they are likely to have been tattooed with concentric rings on the forehead, in honour of the sun, the source of their furnace fires; the Thracians continued to tattoo themselves until Classical times. ... The Cyclopes were one-eyed in the sense that smiths often shade one eye with a patch against flying sparks.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The Wicked Witch of the West had only one eye... erk?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes that's why I said it's possible. But, why doesn't Cyclops have large tusks?
Well, I never said I held the oliphant theory plausible. I'm more than willing to concede that the "origin" of Cyclops as a character in a story is unknown, and, maybe even, unknowable. Most folks do so hate a vacuum or lacuna, and do try almost anything to fill it. The etymology of the name though seems pretty straightforward: Κυκλωψ (Kuklops) < Greek κυκλος (kuklos) 'circle; wheel' + ωψ (ōps) 'eye'.
I was reminded, offtopically, of English louche 'morally suspect' from Old French losche 'squint-eyed' < Latin luscus 'one-eyed'. Come to think of it, wheel-eyed or round-eyed doesn't necessarily imply one-eyed. Maybe the Cyclops was like the dog with eyes as big as saucers in Andersen's The Tinder Box.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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old hand
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Come to think of it, wheel-eyed or round-eyed doesn't necessarily imply one-eyed. Maybe the Cyclops was like the dog with eyes as big as saucers in Andersen's The Tinder Box. He thinks so, does he preciousss, gollum gollum, perhaps he may be right preciouses, but what has it got in its etymological pocketses we wonders we does..." 8)
Last edited by The Pook; 05/24/08 12:11 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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but what has it got in its etymological pocketses we wonders
Cur? Ecce: Origines Sancti Isidori Hispalensis.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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old hand
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old hand
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but what has it got in its etymological pocketses we wonders
Cur? Ecce: Origines Sancti Isidori Hispalensis. Holy Spanish Goths Batman! ...um does this have some obscure connection with Smeagol that I am too dense to see? Or is it just one of your favourite sources? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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They are a group without rule, each one of them being a law unto himself with no higher law. Could the single eye somehow represent this? A limited point of view? All solo?<br><br>Just wondering...<br><br>
"Achilles then cries against their clicking cameras and throws an imaginary lance.
It was the cry of a warrior who looses his one soul to the click
of a cyclops". ( Nobelprize winner 1992 Derek Walcott) The metaphor of the camera as a modern cyclops. Thinking of our news hungry hordes of camera men I like to link it to this quote from Wordwind.
Last edited by BranShea; 05/25/08 09:19 AM. Reason: addition
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old hand
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The Wicked Witch of the West had only one eye... erk? couldn't find "erk" anywhere...
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Carpal Tunnel
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The Wicked Witch of the West had only one eye... erk? couldn't find "erk" anywhere... heh sorry, it was just a random expulsion. what's up with the WWW only having one eye?
formerly known as etaoin...
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old hand
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what's up with the WWW only having one eye? Mebbe in her downtime she was a blacksmith! Apparently her good eye had telescopic vision, kinda like Superman but not.
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