Editing Etymologiae

{{Short description|Etymological encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville}}
{{good article}}

{{Infobox book
| name             = Etymologiae
| image            = Isidoro di siviglia, etimologie, fine VIII secolo MSII 4856 Bruxelles, Bibliotheque Royale Albert I, 20x31,50, pagina in scrittura onciale carolina.jpg
| caption          = Page of ''Etymologiae'', Carolingian manuscript (8th century) – [[Royal Library of Belgium]], [[Brussels]]
| author           = [[Isidore of Seville]]
| illustrator      =
| location         = Seville, [[Visigothic Kingdom]]
| subject          = {{ubl|General knowledge|[[etymology]]}}
| genre            = [[Encyclopaedia]]
| pub_date         = {{circa|625}}
| pages            = 20 books
| language         = [[Late Latin]]
| orig_lang_code   = la
| native_wikisource = Etymologiarum libri XX
}}

'''{{lang|la|Etymologiae}}''' ([[Latin]] for 'Etymologies'), also known as the '''{{lang|la|Origines}}''' ('Origins'), usually abbreviated '''''Orig.''''', is an [[medieval etymology|etymological]] encyclopedia compiled by the influential Christian bishop [[Isidore of Seville]] ({{circa|560–636}}) towards the end of his life. Isidore was encouraged to write the book by his friend [[Braulio of Zaragoza|Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa]]. {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} summarized and organized a wealth of knowledge from hundreds of classical sources; three of its books are derived largely from [[Pliny the Elder]]'s ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]''. Isidore acknowledges Pliny, but not his other principal sources, namely [[Cassiodorus]], [[Servius (grammarian)|Servius]], and [[Gaius Julius Solinus]].

{{lang|la|Etymologiae}} covers an encyclopedic range of topics. [[Etymology]], the origins of words, is prominent, but the work also covers, among other things, [[grammar]], [[rhetoric]], mathematics, geometry, music, astronomy, medicine, law, the church and [[heretical]] sects, pagan philosophers, languages, cities, humans, animals, the physical world, geography, public buildings, roads, metals, rocks, agriculture, war, ships, clothes, food, and tools.

{{lang|la|Etymologiae}} was a widely used textbook throughout the [[Middle Ages]]. It was so popular that it was read in place of many of the original [[classics]] that it summarized; as a result, some of these ceased to be copied and were lost. It was cited by [[Dante Alighieri]] (who placed Isidore in his {{lang|la|[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]]}}), quoted by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], and mentioned by the poets [[Giovanni Boccaccio|Boccaccio]], [[Petrarch]], and [[John Gower]]. Among the thousand-odd surviving manuscript copies is the 13th-century {{lang|la|[[Codex Gigas]]}}; the earliest surviving manuscript preserves a fragment of book XI from the 7th century.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=24}} {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} was printed in at least ten editions between 1472 and 1530, after which its importance faded during the [[Renaissance]]. The first scholarly edition was printed in Madrid in 1599; the first modern [[critical edition]] was edited by [[Wallace Lindsay]] in 1911.

While less well known in modern times, modern scholars recognize the work's importance in preserving both classical texts, as well as insight into the medieval mindset.

== Background ==

Isidore of Seville was born around 560 in [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]], which was under the unstable rule of the [[Visigoths]] after the collapse of the [[Roman Empire]] in the West. His older brother, Leander, the abbot of a [[Seville]] monastery, supervised Isidore's education, probably in the school attached to his monastery. Leander was a powerful priest, a friend of Pope Gregory, and eventually he became bishop of Seville. Leander also made friends with the Visigothic king's sons, Hermenigild and Reccared. In 586, [[Reccared]] became king, and in 587 he converted to Catholicism under Leander's religious direction, and consequently controlled the appointment of bishops. Reccared died in 601, not long after appointing Isidore as bishop of Seville.

Isidore helped to unify the kingdom through Christianity and education, eradicating the [[Arian heresy]] which had been widespread, and led National Councils at Toledo and Seville. Isidore had a close friendship with king [[Sisebut]], who came to the throne in 612, and with another Seville churchman, [[Braulio of Zaragoza|Braulio]], who later became bishop of [[Saragossa]].

Isidore was widely read, mainly in Latin with a little Greek and Hebrew. He was familiar with the works of both the church fathers and pagan writers such as [[Martial]], [[Cicero]] and Pliny the Elder, this last the author of the major encyclopaedia then in existence, the ''Natural History''. The classical encyclopedists had already introduced alphabetic ordering of topics, and a literary rather than observational approach to knowledge: Isidore followed those traditions.{{sfn|Brehaut|2003 [1912]|p=22}} Isidore became well known in his lifetime as a scholar. He started to put together the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}}, a collection of his knowledge, in about 600, and continued to write until around 625.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=4–10}}<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Isidore of Seville |last=O'Connor |first=John Bonaventure |year=1913}}</ref>

== 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}}

== Contents ==

''The Etymologies'' organizes knowledge, mainly drawn from the classics, into twenty books:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Structure of ''The Etymologies''
! Book !! Topics !! Principal sources
|-
| (Whole work) || (Etymological encyclopedia) || the ''Prata'' of [[Suetonius]], now lost{{sfn|Lindsay|1911b}}
|-
| Book I: {{Lang|la|de grammatica}}|| [[trivium (education)|Trivium]]: grammar || ''Institutes'' of [[Cassiodorus]]{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book II: {{lang|la|de rhetorica et dialectica}} || Trivium: [[rhetoric]] and [[dialectic]] || Cassiodorus{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book III: {{lang|la|de quatuor disciplinis mathematicis}} || [[Quadrivium]]: arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy || [[Boethius]] on mathematics; Cassiodorus{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book IV: {{lang|la|de medicina}} || medicine || [[Caelius Aurelianus]], [[Soranus of Ephesus]], Pliny{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book V: {{lang|la|de legibus et temporibus}} || law and [[chronology]] || [[Institutes of Gaius|''Institutes'' of Gaius]], ''[[Breviary of Alaric]]''{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book VI: {{lang|la|de libris et officiis ecclesiasticis}} || Ecclesiastical books and offices || Augustine, [[Saint Jerome|Jerome]], [[Gregory the Great]], ''Divine Institutes'' of [[Lactantius]], [[Tertullian]]{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book VII: {{lang|la|de deo, angelis, sanctis et fidelium ordinibus}} || God, angels and saints hierarchies of heaven and earth || Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, Lactantius, Tertullian{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book VIII: {{lang|la|de ecclesia et sectis diversis}} || The church, Jews, and heretical [[sects]]; pagan philosophers, prophets and [[sibyls]] || Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great, Lactantius, Tertullian (Christian); [[Varro]], [[Cicero]], [[Pliny the Elder]] (pagan){{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book IX: {{lang|la|de linguis, gentibus, regnis, militia, civibus, affinitatibus}} || Languages, peoples, kingdoms, armies, [[city|cities]] and titles || Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Servius, Pliny, [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]] (who borrowed from Pliny){{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book X: {{lang|la|de vocabulis}} || Etymologies || [[Verrius Flaccus]] via Festus; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]; the [[Church Fathers]].{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XI: {{lang|la|de homine et portentis}} || Mankind, [[Portent (divination)|portents]], and transformations || Books XI – XX all include material from Pliny's ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', Servius, Solinus
|-
| Book XII: {{lang|la|de animalibus}} || Beasts and birds || Pliny, Servius, Solinus, ''[[Hexameron]]'' of [[Ambrose]]{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XIII: {{lang|la|de mundo et partibus}} || The physical world, [[atoms]], [[classical element|elements]], natural phenomena || as Book XI{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XIV: {{lang|la|de terra et partibus}} || Geography: Earth, Asia, Europe, Libya, islands, promontories, mountains, caves || as Book XI; ''Histories Against the Pagans'' of [[Paulus Orosius]]{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XV: {{lang|la|de aedificiis et agris}} || Public buildings, [[civil engineering|public works]], roads || [[Columella]], Servius{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XVI: {{lang|la|de lapidibus et metallis}} || Metals and stones || Pliny, Servius, Solinus{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XVII: {{lang|la|de rebus rusticis}} || Agriculture || [[Cato the Younger|Cato]] via Columella, Pliny, Servius, Solinus, Rutilius Palladius, Varro{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XVIII: {{lang|la|de bello et ludis}} || Terms of war, games, [[jurisprudence]] || Servius; [[Tertullian]] on circus games{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XIX: {{lang|la|de navibus, aedificiis et vestibus}} || Ships, houses, and clothes || Servius; also Jerome, Festus, Pliny, [[Marcus Cetius Faventinus]], Palladius, Nonus Marcellus{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|-
| Book XX: {{lang|la|de penu et instrumentis domesticis et rusticis}} || Food, tools, and furnishings || as Book XIX{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=14–15}}
|}

In '''Book I''', Isidore begins with a lengthy section on grammar, the first of three subjects in the mediaeval [[trivium (education)|Trivium]] considered at the time the core of essential knowledge. He covers the letters of the alphabet, parts of speech, accents, punctuation and other marks, shorthand and abbreviations, writing in cipher and sign language, types of mistake and histories.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=39–68}} He derives the word for letters ({{lang|la|littera}}) from the Latin words for "to read" ({{lang|la|legere}}) and 'road' ({{lang|la|iter}}), "as if the term were {{lang|la|legitera}}",{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=39}} arguing that letters offer a road for people who read.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=39–68}}

'''Book II''' completes the medieval Trivium with coverage of [[rhetoric]] and [[dialectic]]. Isidore describes what rhetoric is, kinds of argument, maxims, elocution, ways of speaking, and figures of speech. On dialectic, he discusses philosophy, syllogisms, and definitions. He equates the Greek term syllogism with the Latin term argumentation ({{lang|la|argumentatio}}), which he derives from the Latin for "clear mind" ({{lang|la|arguta mens}}).{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=69–88}}

'''Book III''' covers the medieval [[Quadrivium]], the four subjects that supplemented the Trivium being arithmetic, [[geometry]], music, and astronomy.{{efn|The accounts of logic in Book II and of arithmetic in Book III are transferred almost word for word from [[Cassiodorus]], Isidore's editor, W. M. Lindsay observed.{{sfn|Lindsay|1911a|p=42}}}} He argues that there are infinitely many numbers, as you can always add one (or any other number) to whatever number you think is the limit.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=89–108}} He attributes geometry to [[Ancient Egypt]], arguing that because the [[River Nile]] flooded and covered the land with mud, geometry was needed to mark out people's land "with lines and measures".{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=93}} Isidore distinguishes astronomy from [[astrology]] and covers the world, the sky and the celestial sphere, the [[zodiac]], the Sun, Moon, stars, [[Milky Way]], and planets, and the names of the stars. He derives the curved ({{lang|la|curvus}}) vault of the heavens from the Latin word for "upside-down" ({{lang|la|conversus}}). He explains eclipses of the Sun as the Moon coming between the Earth and the Sun and eclipses of the Moon as happening when it runs into the shadow of the Earth. He condemns the Roman naming of the planets after their gods: Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=89–108}} Isidore of Seiville distinguished between a 'Superstitious' astrology ({{lang|la|astrologia superstitiosa}}) from a 'natural' astrology. The first deals with the [[horoscope]] and the attempt of foreseeing the future of one or more persons; the latter was a legitimate activity which had concerns with meteorological predictions, including [[Iatromathematicians|iatromathematics]] and [[Medical astrology|astrological medicine]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter J. Forshaw|editor1-first=Christopher|editor1-last=Partridge|url=https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315745916.ch2|page=35|chapter=2 - Astrology in the Middle Ages|title=The Occult Middle Ages|date=December 18, 2014|series=The Occult World|doi=10.4324/9781315745916|isbn=9781315745916|s2cid=80814800 |format=pdf|oclc=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515192842/https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/pdf/doi/10.4324/9781315745916.ch2|archive-date=May 15, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

'''Book IV''' covers medicine, including the four humours, diseases, remedies and medical instruments. He derives the word medicine from the Latin for "moderation" ({{lang|la|modus}}), and "[[sciatica]]" ({{lang|la|sciasis}}) from the affected part of the body, the hip (Greek {{lang|grc|ἰσχία}} {{transliteration|grc|ischia}}).{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=109–116}}

'''Book V''' covers law and [[chronology]]. Isidore distinguishes natural, civil, international, military and public law among others. He discusses the purpose of law, legal cases, witnesses, offences and penalties. On chronology, Isidore covers periods of time such as days, weeks, and months, solstices and equinoxes, seasons, special years such as Olympiads and Jubilees, generations and ages.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=117–134}}

In '''Book VI''', Isidore describes ecclesiastical books and offices starting with the Old and New Testaments, the authors and names of the holy books, libraries and translators, authors, writing materials including tablets, papyrus and parchment, books, scribes, and Christian festivals.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=135–152}}

'''Book VII''' describes the basic scheme concerning God, angels, and saints: in other words, the hierarchies of heaven and earth from patriarchs, prophets and apostles down the scale through people named in the gospels to martyrs, clergymen, monks and ordinary Christians.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=153–172}}

'''Book VIII''' covers religion in the shape of the Christian church, the Jews and heretical sects, pagan philosophers including poets, [[sibyls]] and [[magi]], and the pagan gods.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=173–190}}

'''Book IX''' covers languages, peoples, kingdoms, cities and titles.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=191–212}}

'''Book X''' is a word-list of nouns and adjectives, together with supposed etymologies for them. For example, the letter 'D' begins with the word for master ({{lang|la|Dominus}}), as he is the head of a household ({{lang|la|Domus}}); the adjective docile ({{lang|la|docilis}}) is derived by Isidore from the verb for "to teach" ({{lang|la|docere}}), because docile people are able to learn; and the word for abominable ({{lang|la|Nefarius}}) is explained as being not worth the grain called [[spelt]] ({{lang|la|far}}).{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=213–230}}

'''Book XI''' covers human beings, [[Portent (divination)|portents]] and transformations. Isidore derives human beings (''homo'') from the Latin for soil (''humus''), as in Genesis 2:7 it says that man is made from the soil. Urine (''urina'') gets its name either from the fact that it can burn (''urere'') the skin or, Isidore hedges, that it is from the kidneys (''renes''). ''Femina'', meaning woman, comes from ''femora/femina'' meaning thighs, as this part of the body shows she is not a man. The Latin for buttocks is ''clunis'' as they are near the large intestine or colon (''colum'').{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=231–246}}

'''Book XII''' covers [[animals]], including small animals, [[snakes]], [[Worm|worms]], [[fish]], [[birds]] and other beasts that fly. Isidore's treatment is as usual full of conjectural etymology, so a horse is called {{lang|la|equus}} because when in a team of four horses they are balanced (''aequare''). The spider (''aranea'') is so called from the air (''aer'') that feeds it. The [[electric ray]] (''torpedo'') is called that because it numbs ({{lang|la|torpescere}}, compare English "torpid") anyone who touches it.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=247–270}}

'''Book XIII''' describes the [[physics|physical world]], [[atoms]], [[classical elements]], the sky, clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows, winds, and waters including the sea, the Mediterranean, bays, tides, lakes, rivers and floods. The sky is called {{lang|la|caelum}}, as it has stars stamped on to it, like a decorated pot ({{lang|la|caelatus}}). Clouds are called {{lang|la|nubes}} as they veil ({{lang|la|obnubere}}) the sky, just as brides ({{lang|la|nupta}}) wear veils for their weddings. The wind is called {{lang|la|ventus}}, as it is angry and violent ({{lang|la|vehemens}}, {{lang|la|violentus}}).{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=271–284}} There are many kinds of water: some water "is salty, some alkaline, some with alum, some sulfuric, some tarry, and some containing a cure for illnesses."{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=276}} There are waters that cure eye injuries, or make voices melodious, or cause madness, or cure infertility. The water of the Styx causes immediate death.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=271–284}}

[[File:Diagrammatic T-O world map - 12th century.jpg|thumb|[[T and O map]] from the first printed edition of {{lang|la|Etymologiae}}, XIV: ''de terra et partibus'', representing the inhabited world. Augsburg, 1472. The East is at the top, with Asia occupying the top half of the "globe" (''orbis'').]]

'''Book XIV''' covers [[geography]], describing the Earth, islands, promontories, mountains and caves. The Earth is divided into three parts, Asia occupying half the globe, and Europe and Africa each occupying a quarter. Europe is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean, reaching in from the Ocean that flows all around the land.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=285–300}} Isidore writes that the {{lang|la|orbis}} of the Earth, translated by Barney as "globe", "derives its name from the roundness of the circle, because it resembles a wheel; hence a small wheel is called a 'small disk' ({{lang|la|orbiculus}})".{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=285}} Barney notes that ''orbis'' "refers to the 'circle' of lands around the Mediterranean, and hence to the total known extent of land."{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=285}} The fourteenth book of the ''Etymologies'' is also often illustrated with a circular [[T-O map]], which gaves a vague impression of a [[flat earth|flat disc-shaped Earth]], though authors disagree about Isidore's beliefs on the matter.{{sfn|Brehaut|2003 [1912]|p=174}}{{sfn|Garwood|2007|p=25}}{{efn|Garwood notes, "St Augustine's stance on the shape of the earth [spherical] was supported, albeit vaguely, by the most popular encyclopedist of the era, St Isidore of Seville".{{sfn|Garwood|2007|p=25}}}}{{sfn|Russell|1991|pp=86–87}}{{sfn|Stevens|1980|pp=268–77}}{{sfn|Grant|1974|pp=268–77}}<ref name="Woodward">Woodward, David. "Reality, Symbolism, Time, and Space in Medieval World Maps", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1985, p. 517-519.</ref>

'''Book XV''' covers cities and buildings including public buildings, houses, storehouses and workshops, parts of buildings, tents, fields and roads.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=301–316}}

'''Book XVI''' covers metals and rocks, starting with dust and earth, and moving on to gemstones of different colours, glass and mines. Metals include gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and [[electrum]]. Weights and measures end the book. Games with boards and dice are described.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=317–336}}

'''Book XVII''' describes agriculture, including grains, legumes, vines, trees, aromatic herbs and vegetables.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=337–358}}

'''Book XVIII''' covers the terms of war, games, and [[jurisprudence]]. Isidore describes standards, trumpets, weapons including swords, spears, arrows, slings, battering rams, and armour including shields, breastplates and helmets. Athletic games include running and jumping, throwing and wrestling. Circus games are described, with chariot racing, horse racing and vaulting. In the theatre, comedy, tragedy, mime and dance are covered. In the amphitheatre, Isidore covers those who fight with nets, nooses and other weapons.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=359–372}}

'''Book XIX''' covers ships including boats, sails, ropes and nets; forges and tools; building, including walls, decorations, ceilings, mosaics, statues, and building tools; and clothes, including types of dress, cloaks, bedding, tools, rings, belts and shoes. The word "net" ({{lang|la|rete}}), is derived from retaining ({{lang|la|retinere}}) fish, or perhaps, writes Isidore, from the ropes ({{lang|la|restis}}) they are attached to.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=373–394}}

'''Book XX''' completes Isidore's encyclopaedia, describing food and drink and vessels for these, storage and cooking vessels; furnishings including beds and chairs; vehicles, farm and garden tools and equipment for horses.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=395–408}}

== Reception ==

[[File:Isidoro de Sevilla (José Alcoverro) 01.jpg|thumb|upright|1892 statue of Isidore of Seville in Madrid by [[José Alcoverro]]]]

=== Middle Ages ===

Isidore was widely influential throughout the [[Middle Ages]], feeding directly into word lists and encyclopaedias by [[Papias (lexicographer)|Papias]], [[Huguccio]], [[Bartholomaeus Anglicus]] and [[Vincent of Beauvais]], as well as being used everywhere in the form of small snippets.{{sfn|Hexter|2010|pp=489–490}} His influence also pertained to early medieval riddle collections such as the [[Bern Riddles]] or the {{lang|la|Aenigmata}} of [[Aldhelm]]. He was cited by [[Dante Alighieri]], quoted by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], and his name was mentioned by the poets [[Giovanni Boccaccio|Boccaccio]], [[Petrarch]] and [[John Gower]] among others. Dante went so far as to place Isidore in Paradise in the final part of his ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', ''[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]]'' (10.130–131).{{sfn|Hexter|2010|pp=489–490}}

Throughout the Middle Ages, the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} was the textbook most in use, regarded so highly as a repository of classical learning that, in a great measure, it superseded the use of the individual works of the classics themselves, full texts of which were no longer copied and thus were lost. It was one of the most popular compendia in medieval libraries.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=24–26}}

=== Modern ===

"An editor's enthusiasm is soon chilled by the discovery that Isidore's book is really a mosaic of pieces borrowed from previous writers, sacred and profane, often their 'ipsa verba' without alteration," [[Wallace Lindsay]] noted in 1911, having recently edited Isidore for the [[Clarendon Press]],{{sfn|Lindsay|1911a|pp=42–53}}{{sfn|Lindsay|1911b}} with the further observation, however, that a portion of the texts quoted have otherwise been lost: the {{lang|la|Prata}} of [[Suetonius]], for instance, can only be reconstructed from Isidore's excerpts.{{sfn|Lindsay|1911a|pp=24–26}}

In the view of John T. Hamilton, writing in ''The Classical Tradition'' in 2010, "Our knowledge of ancient and early medieval thought owes an enormous amount to this encyclopedia, a reflective catalogue of received wisdom, which the authors of the only complete translation into English introduce as "arguably the most influential book, after the Bible, in the learned world of the Latin West for nearly a thousand years"{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=3}} These days, of course, Isidore and his ''Etymologies'' are anything but household names... but the Vatican has named Isidore the patron saint of the Internet, which is likely to make his work slightly better known.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://gizmodo.com/the-patron-saint-of-the-internet-is-isidore-of-seville-1595023500 |title=The patron saint of the internet is Isidore of Seville, who tried to record everything ever known |date=11 October 2015 |access-date=2019-05-17 |archive-date=2019-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517044920/https://gizmodo.com/the-patron-saint-of-the-internet-is-isidore-of-seville-1595023500 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ralph Hexter, also writing in ''The Classical Tradition'', comments on "Isidore's largest and massively influential work... on which he was still at work at the time of his death... his own architecture for the whole is relatively clear (if somewhat arbitrary)... At the deepest level Isidore's encyclopedia is rooted in the dream that language can capture the universe and that if we but parse it correctly, it can lead us to the proper understanding of God's creation. His word derivations are not based on principles of historical linguistics but follow their own logic... Isidore is the master of bricolage... His reductions and compilations did indeed transmit ancient learning, but Isidore, who often relied on [[scholia]] and earlier compilations, is often simplistic scientifically and philosophically, especially compared to .. figures such as [[Ambrose]] and Augustine."{{sfn|Hexter|2010|pp=489–490}}

[[File:Internet map 1024 - transparent, inverted.png|thumb|[[Encyclopedia]] as network of knowledge: [[Pope John Paul II]] considered nominating Isidore of Seville as the [[patron saint]] of the [[Internet]]]]

Writing in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', Peter Jones compares {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} to the Internet:

{{blockquote|One might have thought that Isidore, Bishop of Seville, AD 600-636, had already suffered enough by having Oxford's computerised 'student administration project', planned since 2002, named after him. But five years ago Pope John Paul II compounded his misfortune by proposing (evidently) to nominate [Isidore] as the patron saint of the internet. 

It was, indeed, a tempting choice. Isidore's ''Etymologies'', published in 20 books after his death, was an encyclopedia of all human knowledge, glossed with his own derivations of the technical terms relevant to the topic in hand. Derivations apart, it was lifted from sources almost entirely at second or third hand ..., none of it checked, and much of it unconditional eyewash – the internet, in other words, to a T. 

By the same token, Isidore's work was phenomenally influential throughout the West for 1,000 years, 'a basic book' of the Middle Ages, as one scholar put it, second only to the Bible. Written in simple Latin, it was all a man needed in order to have access to everything he wanted to know about the world but never dared to ask, from the 28 types of common noun to the names of women's outer garments. Today, one internet connection serves precisely the same purpose.<ref name=JonesTelegraph>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3654846/Patron-saint-of-the-internet.html | title=Patron saint of the internet | newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | date=27 August 2006 | access-date=15 June 2014 | author=Jones, Peter | archive-date=29 March 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329010052/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3654846/Patron-saint-of-the-internet.html | url-status=live }}</ref>}}

== Manuscripts and printed editions ==

Almost 1000 manuscript copies of {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} have survived. The earliest is held at the [[Abbey library of Saint Gall]] in Switzerland,{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|p=24}} a 7th-century fragment of Books XI.<ref>St Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, 1399 a 1; E. A. Lowe, ''Codices latini antiquiores'', no. 995 (https://elmss.nuigalway.ie/catalogue/1461).</ref> The 13th-century {{lang|la|[[Codex Gigas]]}} held in the [[National Library of Sweden]], the largest extant medieval manuscript, contains a copy of the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}}.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Isidore | title=Codex Gigas: Isidorus |url=http://www.kb.se/codex-gigas/eng/Browse-the-Manuscript/Isidorus-Etymologiae/?close=False&closechild=False&mode=0&page=399#content | publisher=National Library of Sweden | access-date=26 May 2015 | archive-date=26 May 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526234136/http://www.kb.se/codex-gigas/eng/Browse-the-Manuscript/Isidorus-Etymologiae/?close=False&closechild=False&mode=0&page=399#content | url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1472 at [[Augsburg]], the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} became one of the first books to be printed, quickly followed by ten more editions by 1500.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=24–28}} Juan de Grial produced the first scholarly edition in Madrid in 1599.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=27–28}} [[Faustino Arevalo]] included it as two of the 17 volumes of his {{lang|la|Opera omnia}} in Rome (1797–1803).{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=27–28}} Rudolph Beer produced a facsimile edition of the Toledo manuscript of the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} in 1909.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=27–28}} Wallace Lindsay edited the first modern critical edition in 1911.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=27–28}} Jacques Fontaine and Manuel C. Diaz y Diaz have between 1981 and 1995 supervised the production of the first five volumes of the {{lang|la|Etymologiae}} in the Belle Lettres series "Auteurs Latins du Moyen Age", with extensive footnotes.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006|pp=27–28}} The first complete English translation, by S.A. Barney, W.J. Lewis, J.A. Beach and O. Berghof, was published in 2006.{{sfn|Barney et al.|2006}}

== Notes ==

{{notelist}}

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

{{Refbegin|30em}}

* {{Cite book | title=The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ep502syZv8C | last1=Barney | first1=Stephen A. | last2=Lewis | first2=W. J. | last3=Beach | first3=J.A. | last4=Berghof | first4=O. | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2006 | edition=1st | isbn=978-0-511-21969-6 | ref={{harvid|Barney et al.|2006}} | access-date=2021-07-25 | archive-date=2021-01-11 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111230647/https://books.google.com/books?id=3ep502syZv8C | url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Brehaut |first1=Ernest |title=An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville |date=2003 |orig-year=1912 |publisher=Columbia University |edition=Digital |url=http://bestiary.ca/etexts/brehaut1912/brehaut%20-%20encyclopedist%20of%20the%20dark%20ages.pdf |ref={{harvid|Brehaut|2003 [1912]}} |access-date=2007-02-17 |archive-date=2010-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120050723/http://bestiary.ca/etexts/brehaut1912/brehaut%20-%20encyclopedist%20of%20the%20dark%20ages.pdf |url-status=live }}
*Fear, A. T., and Jamie Wood, eds. ''Isidore of Seville and His Reception in the Early Middle Ages: Transmitting and Transforming Knowledge.'' Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016. 
* {{cite book | title=Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea | publisher=Macmillan | last1=Garwood|first1=Christine | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-4050-4702-9 }}
* {{cite book | last1=Grant|first1=Edward | title=A Sourcebook in Medieval Science | year=1974 | publisher=Harvard University Press | isbn=978-0-674-82360-0}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | title=Pliny the Elder | encyclopedia=The Classical Tradition | publisher=Harvard University Press | last1=Hamilton|first1=John T. |editor1=Grafton, Anthony |editor2=Most, Glenn W. |editor3=Settis, Salvatore | year=2010}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | title=Isidore of Seville | encyclopedia=The Classical Tradition | publisher=Harvard University Press | last1=Hexter|first1=Ralph |editor1=Grafton, Anthony |editor2=Most, Glenn W. |editor3=Settis, Salvatore | year=2010}}
* {{cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Anglo-Saxon Library |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z1HbVyElFD4C&pg=PA22 |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-153301-3 |access-date=2015-11-06 |archive-date=2016-04-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426080703/https://books.google.com/books?id=z1HbVyElFD4C&pg=PA22 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal | last1=Lindsay|first1=Wallace| author-link=Wallace Lindsay | title=The Editing of Isidore Etymologiae | journal=The Classical Quarterly | volume=5 | issue=1 | year=1911a | pages=42–53|doi=10.1017/S0009838800019273|s2cid=170517611 }}
* {{cite book | last1=Lindsay|first1=Wallace | title=Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Etymologiarum Sive Originum Libri XX | publisher=Clarendon Press | year=1911b}}
* {{cite journal|author=Porzig, Walter|title=Die Rezensionen der Etymologiae des Isidorus von Sevilla|journal=Hermes|volume=72|number=2|year=1937|pages=129–170|ref={{harvid|Porzig|1937}} }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Rusche |first1=Philip G. |title=Isidore's "Etymologiae" and the Canterbury Aldhelm Scholia |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |date=October 2005 |volume=104 |issue=4 |pages=437–455 |jstor=27712536}}
* {{cite book| last1=Russell| first1=Jeffrey Burton| title=Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians|url=https://archive.org/details/inventingflatear00russ| url-access=registration| year=1991| publisher=Praeger| isbn=978-0-275-95904-3}}
* {{cite book |author=Sofer, Johann |title=Lateinisches und Romanisches aus den Etymologiae des Isidorus von Sevilla|publisher=Göttingen|year=1930 |ref={{harvid|Sofer|1930}}}}
* {{Cite journal |doi=10.1086/352464 | last1=Stevens|first1=Wesley M. | title=The Figure of the Earth in Isidore's "De natura rerum" | journal=Isis | volume=71 | issue=2 | pages=268–77 | year=1980 | jstor=230175| s2cid=133430429}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==

{{wikisourcelang|la|Etymologiarum libri XX}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060313051842/https://bestiary.ca/etexts/brehaut1912/brehaut%20-%20encyclopedist%20of%20the%20dark%20ages.pdf Summary of contents in English] (starts on page 57)
* [http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?dir=mss/64-weiss ''Codex Guelferbytanus 64 Weissenburgensis''] (Herzog August Bibliothek)
* [http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/bitstream/2042/2367/1/07+TEXTE.pdf ''Scholia in Isidori Etymologias Vallicelliana''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051023023248/http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/bitstream/2042/2367/1/07+TEXTE.pdf |date=2005-10-23 }}

; Latin texts
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Isidore/home.html from LacusCurtius]
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/isidore.html from the Latin Library]
* [http://www.intratext.com/X/LAT0706.HTM from IntraText]
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:7th-century books in Latin]]
[[Category:Encyclopedias in Latin]]
[[Category:Spanish encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Medieval European encyclopedias]]