The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

ecause not just one witness swears there, but two or
more. Indeed, every word stands not in the mouth
of one witness alone, but of two or three witnesses
(cf. Deuteronomy 19:15). Furthermore, they are called
covenants, because the speeches of the witnesses agree
with each other, as if the word were condictiones (lit.
“joint utterances”). 30. Astipulation is a promise or
a pledge, whence stipulators are also called promisors.
Andstipulation (stipulatio)issocalledfromstraw(stipula),
for the ancients, when they would promise each
other something, would break a straw that they were
holding; in joining this straw together again they would
acknowledge their pledge. [Or it is because people would
have called something firm stipulus,accordingto Paulus
the jurist.] 31.Asacramentum is a bond given in support
of a promise, and it is called a sacramentum (lit. “holy
thing”) because to violate a promise is a breach of faith.
xxv. Property (De rebus) 1.Aninheritance is property
that passes to a person upon someone’s death, either
bequeathed by a will, or retained through occupancy.
And it is called ‘inheritance’ (hereditas) from‘property
entered in on’ (res adita), or from ‘money’ (aes, gen.
aeris), because whoever possesses land also pays the tax;
whence also property (res). 4 2.Propertyisthat which
exists under our legal title. And ‘legal titles’ (ius) are
things that are possessed by us lawfully (iuste), and do
not belong to someone else. 3.Property(res)issonamed
from holding rightly (recte), and ‘legal titles’ from possessing
lawfully, for what is possessed ‘with title’ (ius), is
possessed ‘lawfully’ (iuste), and what is possessed lawfully
is possessed well. But what is possessed wrongly
is that which is owned by someone else. Someone who
either uses his own property improperly, or takes the
property of another, possesses wrongly. He possesses
lawfully who is not ensnared by greed. But whoever is
held by greed is the possessed, not the possessor.
4. Goods are the possessions of honorable or noble
people, and they are called ‘goods’ (bona) for that reason,
because they have no base use, but people make use
of them for good (bonus) purposes. 5.Apeculium,properly
speaking, relates to younger persons or slaves, for a
peculium is something that a father allows his son, or a
master his slave, to handle as his own. And it is called
4 The phrase inde et res, “whence also property,” seems to be
scribally corrupt.
The Etymologies V.xxiv.30–xxv.20 121
peculium from ‘livestock’ (pecus), of which all the wealth
of the ancients consisted. 6. The possession of goods is
the legal right of possession, acquired following a certain
procedure and with a certain title.
7. Anintestate (intestata) inheritance is one that has
not been written in a testament, or, if it has, has not been
legally entered upon. 8. Aninheritance is called caduca
(i.e. property without an heir), because its heirs have
died (cadere). 9. Familia herciscunda is the division of
the inheritance among the heirs, for division was called
herciscunda by the ancients. 10. Itisfordividing what
is held in common among those who own property in
common; this action requires that a mediator be assigned
to the claimants, a mediator by whose arbitration the
property may be divided (dividere). 11.Theaction of fines
regundi is so called because through it the boundaries
(fines) ofeachpartymaybedrawn(regere), lest they be
blurred, as long as the disagreement does not concern a
place narrower than five feet.
12. Locatio is property lent out for use at a fixed price.
13. Conductio is property borrowed for use at an established
price. 14. Ares credita is property brought under
terms of obligation in such a way that from the time
when the contract was made it was determined that it
is mortgaged. 15. Usura is the increment of interest, so
called from the ‘use of money’ (usu aeris) that is lent.
16. Commodatum is that which is subject to our authority
and is transferred temporarily to someone else ‘with
a limit’ (cum modo) ofthetimeduring which he may
have it, whence it is called commodatum. 17. Aprecarium
exists when a creditor, having been requested by
entreaty, allows the debtor to remain in possession of
the cultivated land that is owing to him, and to have the
fruits from it. And it is called precarium, because it ‘is
entered into by means of entreaty’ (prece aditur), as if
the word were precadium,with the letter r put for the d.
18. Amutuum (i.e. a kind of loan) is so called, because
that which is given by me to you is turned ‘from mine
to yours’ (ex meo tuum).
19.A‘deposit’ (depositum)isasecurity entrusted for a
set time, as though it were ‘set down for a long time’ (diu
positum). And someone is seen to make a deposit when,
for fear of theft or fire or shipwreck, he leaves (deponere,
ppl. depositus)something with another person for safekeeping.
20. And there is a difference in usage between
a pignus and an arra. Apignus is that which is given
in place of something borrowed, and when the loan is