Compositional elliptic etymology. The first member of the compound is assumed to be κόρη "pupil of the eye". t is substituted here by ὀφθαλμός "eye", which loses the formal relationship between lemma and etymon. The "tomb" of the eye refers to the cavity in which the eye lies, as a corpse is laid in a cavity. Compare for instance Hesychius, Lexicon, kappa 3660 κόρσαι· αἱ τῶν ὀφρύων τρίχες καταφέρουσαι εἰς τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. ἢ γνάθοι. ἢ κορυφαί. "Korsai, the ones that bear the hair of the brows, extending over the eyes. Or the jaws. Or the summit." (three definitions alluding to different understandings of this rare word). Thus, κόρσαι was understood by some as referring to the eyebrows. The latter mark the upper boundary of the eye socket. The hollow of the socket is compared to the hollow of a grave. This etymology was designed in order to account for the variant κόρταφος rather than κρόταφος. Yet, since those are two variants of the same word, the etymologist lists the etymology under the usual form of the lemma.