The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

pass because, just as a great deal of seed is hidden in
the earth, so also seed that can assume the shape of our
parents is hidden in us. However, from the paternal seed
girls may be born, and from the maternal seed boys,
because all offspring is made of two kinds of seed, and
the greater portion, because it predominates, determines
the similarity of the sex.
146. Some parts in our body were created solely for
reasons of usefulness, as for instance the viscera; some
for usefulness and ornament, like the sense organs in
the face, and the hands and feet in the body, limbs that
are both of great usefulness and most pleasing form. 147.
Some are purely for ornament, as for instance breasts
in men, and the navel in both sexes. Some are there to
allow us to tell the difference between the sexes, as for
instance the genitals, the grown beard, and the wide chest
in men; in women the smooth cheeks and the narrow
chest; although, in order to conceive and carry a fetus,
they have wide loins and sides. That which pertains to
human beings and the parts of the body has been partly
treated; now I will add something on the ages of a human
being.
ii. On the ages of human beings (De aetatibus
hominum) 1. There are six stages in a lifetime: infancy,
childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity, and old age. 2.
The first age, the infancy (infantia) ofanewborn child,
lasts seven years. 3. Thesecond age is childhood (pueritia),
that is, a pure (purus) age,duringwhich a child
is not yet suited for procreating; it lasts until the fourteenth
year. 4.The third age, adolescence (adolescentia),
is mature (adultus, ppl. of adolescere) enough for procreating
and lasts until the twenty-eighth year. 5. The
fourth age, youth (iuventus), is the strongest of all ages,
ending in the fiftieth year. 6. Thefifth is the age of an
elder person (senior), that is, maturity (gravitas), which
is the decline from youth into old age; it is not yet old
age, but no longer youth, because it is the age of an older
person, which the Greeks call –forwith the
Greeks an old person isnotcalledpresbyter, but .
This age begins in the fiftieth and ends in the seventieth
year. 7. Thesixth age is old age (senectus), which has no
time limit in years; rather, however much life is left after
the previous five ages is allotted to old age. 8. Senium,
8 The received Vulgate text of Psalm 9:14 reads orphanus where
Isidore and other Latin versions have pupillus.
The Etymologies XI.i.146–ii.13 241
however, is the last part of old age, so called because it is
the end of the sixth (cf. seni, “six”) age.
Into these six intervals, therefore, the philosophers
have divided human life – ages in which life is changed,
runs its course, and reaches the final point of death.
Let us therefore proceed briefly through the aforementioned
stages in a lifetime, demonstrating their etymologies
with regard to the terms used for a human being.
9. Ahuman being of the first age is called an infant
(infans); it is called an infant, because it does not yet
know how to speak (in-, “not”; fari, present participle
fans,“speaking”), that is, it cannot talk. Not yet having its
full complement of teeth, it has less ability to articulate
words. 10.Aboy(puer)issocalled from purity (puritas),
because he is pure and still retains, without the hint
of a beard, the bloom of the cheeks. They are ephebes
(ephebus), so called after Phoebus, gentle youths, not yet
[grown] men. 11.The word child (puer), however, is used
in three ways: in reference to birth, as in Isaiah (cf. 9:6):
“A child (puer) isborn to us.” To indicate age, as in “an
eight-year-old,” “a ten-year-old”– whence the following
expression (Courtney fr. 3):
Now hetook a child’s (puerilis) yokeonhistender neck.
And finally, in reference to obedience and purity of faith,
as in the words of the Lord to the prophet (cf. Jeremiah
1:6–8): “You are my child (puer), do not be afraid,” spoken
when Jeremiah had already left behind the years of
childhood a long timebefore.
12. Puella is “little girl” (parvula), as if the term were
‘chick’ (pulla). Hence we use the term ‘wards’ (pupillus),
not because of the legal status of wards, but because of
their youthful age. A ward, named like the pupil (pupillus)
ofthe eye, is one bereft of parents. Those truly
called pupilli, however, are children whose parents died
before giving them a name. Other ‘bereft ones’ (orbus)
are called orphans (orphanus), the same as are those
called pupilli;fororphanus is a Greek word and pupillus
a Latin word. Thus in the psalm, where it is said (Psalm
9/10:14 Vulgate): “Thou wilt be a helper to the orphan
(pupillus),” the Greek has the word . 8
13. Thosewhohavereached puberty (puberes) areso
called from pubes,that is, the private parts, for this is the
first time that this area grows hair. There are those who
calculate puberty from age, that is, they take someone
who has completed his fourteenth year to have reached
puberty, even though he may begin to show the signs of