Editing Etymologiae (section)

== Overview ==

[[File:Etymologiae page 26 of Codex Karolinus manuscript.jpg|thumb|upright|Manuscript page from the start of the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}}, showing the letters of the Greek alphabet. Codex Karolinus, 8th century. Wolfenbüttel digital library.]]
[[File:Etymologiae Guntherus Ziner 1472.jpg|thumb|upright|An early printed edition, by Guntherus Zainer, [[Augsburg]], 1472. British Library]]

The {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} presents an abbreviated form of much of that part of the learning of antiquity that Christians thought worth preserving. Etymologies, often very far-fetched, form the subject of just one of the encyclopedia's twenty books (Book X), but perceived linguistic similarities permeate the work. An idea of the quality of Isidore's etymological knowledge is given by Peter Jones: "Now we know most of his derivations are total nonsense (eg, he derives {{lang|la|baculus}}, 'walking-stick', from [[Bacchus]], god of drink, because you need one to walk straight after sinking a few)".<ref name=JonesTelegraph/>

The work covers many of the subjects of ancient learning, from [[theology]] to the construction and provenance of furniture, and provides a rich source of classical lore and learning for medieval writers. Isidore quotes from around 475 works from over 200 authors in his works, including those outside the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}}.{{sfn|Lapidge|2006|p=22}} [[Braulio of Zaragoza|Bishop Braulio]], to whom Isidore dedicated it and sent it for correction, divided it into its twenty books.{{sfn|Rusche|2005|pp=437–455}}

An analysis of Book XII by Jacques André identifies 58 quotations from named authors and 293 borrowed but uncited usages: 79 from Solinus; 61 from [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]; 45 from Pliny the Elder. Isidore takes care to name classical and Christian scholars whose material he uses: in descending order of frequency, Aristotle (15 references), Jerome (10 times), Cato (9 times), Plato (8 times), Pliny, Donatus, Eusebius, Augustine, Suetonius, and Josephus. He mentions as prolific authors the pagan [[Varro]] and the Christians [[Origen]] and [[Augustine]]. But his translator Stephen Barney notes as remarkable that he never actually names the compilers of the encyclopedias that he used "at second or third hand",{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=14}} [[Aulus Gellius]], [[Nonius Marcellus]], [[Lactantius]], [[Macrobius]], and [[Martianus Capella]]. Barney further notes as "most striking"{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=14}} that Isidore never mentions three out of his four principal sources (the one he does name being Pliny): Cassiodorus, Servius and Solinus. Conversely, he names [[Pythagoras]] eight times, even though Pythagoras wrote no books. The {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} are thus "complacently derivative".{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=14}}

In Book II, dealing with dialectic and rhetoric, Isidore is heavily indebted to translations from the Greek by [[Boethius]]; in Book III he is similarly in debt to [[Cassiodorus]], who provided the gist of Isidore's treatment of arithmetic. [[Caelius Aurelianus]] contributes generously to the part of Book IV dealing with medicine. Isidore's view of Roman law in Book V is viewed through the lens of the Visigothic compendiary called the ''[[Breviary of Alaric]]'', which was based on the [[Code of Theodosius]], which Isidore never saw. Through Isidore's condensed paraphrase a third-hand memory of Roman law passed to the Early Middle Ages. Lactantius is the author most extensively quoted in Book XI, concerning man. Books XII, XIII and XIV are largely based on the ''Natural History'' and Solinus, whereas the lost ''Prata'' of [[Suetonius]], which can be partly pieced together from what is quoted in the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}}, seems to have inspired the general plan of the work, as well as many of its details.{{sfn|Lindsay|1911b}}

Isidore's Latin, replete with nonstandard [[Vulgar Latin]], stands at the cusp of Latin and the local [[Romance languages|Romance language]] emerging in Hispania.{{efn|Examined in detail by Johann Sofer,{{sfn|Sofer|1930}} extensively criticised by Walter Porzig.{{sfn|Porzig|1937|pp=129–170}}}} According to the prefatory letters, the work was composed at the urging of Braulio, to whom Isidore sent the unedited manuscript at the end of his life, which seems to have begun circulating before Braulio was able to revise and issue it with a dedication to the late Visigothic king [[Sisebut]].{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=4–10}}