FF Dilator Pupillae Musculus

Anatomy Def: Dilator pupillae (pl.) are muscles inside the irises. They are arranged spoke-like around the pupil opening. As they contract, the pupil opens (dilates).

Outlander def: Dilator pupillae are Claire voice-activated muscles! What? Who? A voice, not heard in 20 years, activates Jamie’s pupil dilators: the iris narrows, the pupil expands! 

Learn about the dilator pupila (sing.) muscle of each iris in Anatomy Lesson #31, An Aye for an Eye.  

Don’t you think it very odd that the Latin for pupil means “little doll?”  Actually, there is a sensible explanation. This word refers to tiny reflections visible in the pupils (really on the corneal surface) and can be traced back to 1398 when, John Trevisa, in his translation of Anglicus’s De Proprietatibus Rerum, wrote:

The blacke of the eye is callyd . . . Pupilla in latyn for smalle ymages ben seen therin.

Were you able to figure out the old English? The sentence reads:

The black of the eye is called pupilla in Latin for small images been seen therein.

This statement is the earliest known English translation for the word origin of “pupil.” 

Read about the effect of dilator pupillae on Jamie’s pupils in Voyager book. Diana explains:

I opened my mouth to reply, but he was still talking, eyes fixed on my face, pupils dilated to pools of darkness. “My love,” he said, almost whispering. “God, ye do look so lovely, wi’ your great eyes all gold, and your hair so soft round your face.”

See the effect of dilator pupillae muscles on Jamie’s pupils in Starz, ep. 306, A. Malcolm. Dark pools, are they!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist