The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

256 XII.iv.12–iv.25 Isidore of Seville
12.Theasp (aspis)isnamedthusbecausewithitsbiteit
introduces and scatters (spargere)venom,forthe Greeks
call venom . Whence the term ‘asp,’ because it kills
with a venomous bite. There are different kinds with
different appearances, some more harmful than others.
And it is saidthatwhenanaspbeginstogiveintoan
enchanter who has called it with certain special chants
so that he may draw it from its cave, and the asp does not
want to come out, it presses one ear against the ground
and blocks and closes up the other with its tail [so that]
by not hearing the magic words it does not go out to the
enchanter. 13. Thedipsas is a type of asp, called situla in
Latin because whomever it has bitten dies of thirst (sitis).
14.Thehypnalis,atypeofasp, is so called because it kills
by means of sleep (cf. , “sleep”). Cleopatra held
this snake to herself and thus was overcome by death as
if by sleep. 15.Thehaemorrhois asp is so named because
whoever has been bitten by it exudes blood, with the
effect that as the veins dissolve it draws out through the
blood whatever life there is – for blood is called in
Greek.
16.Theprester asp hurries with its mouth always open
and steaming. The poet recalled this animal thus (Lucan,
Civil War 9.722):
The greedy prester, swelling out its steaming mouth.
Whoever it strikes swells up and is killed by a tremendous
bodily swelling, and this swelling is accompanied
by putrefaction. 17. Theseps, acorrosive asp that,
when it has bitten a person, immediately consumes him,
so that the victim is entirely liquefied in the snake’s
mouth. 18. Thehorned (cerastes) serpentisso called
because it has horns on its head like a ram, for the
Greeks call horns . Ithasfour small horns, and
it displays them as if they were food, so that it kills
the animals roused by this enticement. It covers its
entire body with sand, and reveals no sign of itself
except that part by which it attacks the birds and animals
that it has lured. And it is more flexible than other snakes,
so that it seems to havenospine.19. Thescytale snake
is so named because it gleams with so much variegation
of its skin thatitslowsonlookers by the charm of its
markings (perhaps cf. scintilla, “spark, glimmer”). And
because it is rather slow at crawling, it captures those it
is too slow to catch when they are mesmerized and wondering
at it. It is an animal of such heat that even in the
winter it sheds the skin of its heated body. Concerning
it Lucan says (Civil War 9.717):
And only the scytale will shed its skin with frost still
scattered about.
20. Theamphisbaena is named because it has two
heads (cf. , “on both sides”; , “go”), one
in the proper place and one on the tail, and it advances
with both heads leading, its body trailing in a loop. This
alone of the snakes trusts itself to the cold, and comes out
first of all the serpents. Concerning it Lucan says (Civil
War 9.719):
Grievous is the amphisbaena, turning toward its two
heads.
Itseyesglow like lamps. 21.Theenhydris isaserpentliving
in the water, for the Greeks call water . 22.The
hydros is an aquatic snake; people struck by it become
swollen. Some people call theilleffects of this boa,
because it is remedied with cow (bos) dung. 23. The
hydra (hydra) isadragon with many heads; this kind
of dragon was in the Lernean swamp in the province of
Arcadia. It is called excetra in Latin, because when one
head is ‘cut off, three’ (caesus tria)moregrowback.But
this is only a story; for it happens that Hydra was a place
that spewed out floods that devastated the neighboring
city. If one outlet for the water were closed up in this
Hydra, many others would burst forth. When Hercules
saw this he dried up the place itself and thus closed up
the path of the floods. Hydra is named from ‘water’ (cf.
, “water”).
24. Thechelydros is a snake that is also known as the
chersydros,asifitwerecerim, 10 because it dwells both in
the water and on land; for the Greeks call land
and water . These make the earth on which they
move smoke, as Macer thus describes it (fr. 8):
Whether their backs froth out poison, or it smokes on
the earth, where the hideous snake crawls.
And Lucan (Civil War 9.711):
And the chelydri drawn along with their smoking trails.
But it alwaysproceedsinastraight line, for if it turns
when it moves, it immediately makes a sharp noise.
25.Thenatrix is a snake that contaminates water with its
10 The term cerim appears to be a textual corruption.