Etymology Dictionary

WALL-EYED,   with glaring eyes, diseased eyes.  (Scand.)   In Shak. K. John, iv. 3. 49, Titus, v. I. 44.   Spenser has whally eyes, F. Q. i. 4. 24.   'Glauciolus, An horse with a waule eye;' Cooper's Thesaurus, ed. 1565.   Nares writes it whally, and explains it from whaule or whall, the disease of the eyes called glaucoma; and cites:  'Glaucoma, a disease in the eye; some think it to be a whal eie;'  A. Fleming's Nomenclator, p. 428.   Cotgrave has:  'Oeil de chevre, a whall, or over-white eye; an eie full of white spots, or whose apple seems divided by a streak of white.'   But the spelling with h is wrong.—Icel. vald-eygðr, a corrupted form of vagl-eygr, wall-eyed, said of a horse.—Icel. vagl, a beam, also a beam in the eye, a disease of the eye (as in vagl á auga, a wall in the eye); and eygr, eygðr, eyed, an adj. formed from auga, the eye, which is cognate with E. Eye.   β. The Icel. vagl is the same as Swed. vagel, a roost, a perch, also a sty in the eye; vagel þå ögat, 'a tumor on the eyelid, a stye on the eyelid,' Widegren.   Cf. Norweg. vagl, a hen-roost, Aasen.   The lit. sense is 'a perch,' or 'a small support;' closely allied to Icel. vagn, a wain.—✔WAGH, to carry, as in Skt. vah, Lat. uehere; see Wain.