What is the 目 in 境目 and 分かれ目?


What is the connection between eyes and boundaries (the etymology of those
phrases)?




So I couldn't find an authoritative source, but given there haven't been an
answer, I'll add my guess.

My guess is that it's related to the use in 木目(wood pattern)、籠目(lattice
pattern) etc. The commonality is here that 目 refers to how things look like
(to the eye). 分け目 probably refers to the virtual "pattern" that emerges
because of the distinction.

