The story
- Arabic · semantic loan fromعَدَسَة“lentil; optic lens”
- Latin · borrowed fromlēns“lentil”
- English todaylens
Borrowed from Latin lēns (“lentil”), with Medieval Latin later taking on the sense of “lens”, a semantic loan from Arabic عَدَسَة (ʕadasa, “lentil; optic lens”); the similar shape is the common factor.
Words from the same roots
Latinlēns all →
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.