[Eyeball or Eye Wheel?].

Authors

Nir Erdinest

Published in

Harefuah. Volume 165. Issue 7. Pages 471-475.

Abstract

This current article examines the linguistic evolution and conceptual origins of the term "eye" and helps determine the issue of whether the eye is a "sphere" or "wheel". The visual organ is composed of two eyes constructed from a roughly spherical three-layered structure specialized for receiving and responding to light and located in the eye socket. Anatomically, the eye is a sphere with a diameter of 23.5 mm and a weight of 6.5 grams. A comparison across 30 languages worldwide reveals that 66.7% use a spherical metaphor, 23.3% an apple simile (mainly in Slavic and Germanic-Scandinavian languages), and only in Hebrew is the word "galgal" (wheel) used. From a religious and historical perspective, the term itself appears in the Babylonian Talmud, midrashim, and biblical sources such as Ezekiel and Isaiah, which emphasize a round and rotating shape. The position of the Academy of the Hebrew Language determines that the term "galgal ayin" is completely standard, although "kador ayin" better matches the anatomical shape, and notes that there is no fault in its use. In this review article, there is reference to the linguistic universality of the term, which is specifically spherical unlike galgal. In addition, the article presents its cultural roots in Judaism.

PMID:
42557635
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Aug 2026.

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