The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

286 XIV.iii.5–iii.17 Isidore of Seville
5. Indiaissocalledfromthe river Indus, by which
it is bounded on the west. It stretches from the south
sea to the place where the sun rises, and reaches in the
north up to the Caucasus range. It has many peoples
and towns, also the islands Taprobane (i.e. Sri Lanka),
full of precious stones and elephants, Chrysa (cf. ,
“gold”) and Argyre (cf. , “silver”), rich in gold
and silver (argentum), and Tile, where the trees never
lose their foliage. 6.Italso has the rivers Ganges, Indus,
and the Hypanis, which make India famous. India’s soil,
very healthful because of the breeze of the west wind,
yields two harvests annually; in winter in turn it submits
to the Etesian trade-winds. It produces human beings
of color, huge elephants, the animal called monoceros
(i.e. the unicorn), the bird called parrot, a wood called
ebony, and cinnamon, pepper, and sweet calamus. 7. It
also yields ivory and precious stones: beryls, chrysoprase,
and diamonds, carbuncles, white marble, and small and
large pearls much coveted by women of the nobility.
There are also mountains of gold there, which one cannot
approach because of dragons, griffins, and human
monsters of immense size.
8. The region from the border of India to
Mesopotamia is generally called Parthia. Due to the
invincible strength of the Parthians, Assyria and other
adjoining regions also came to be included under its
name. Among them are Aracusia, Parthia, Assyria,
Media, and Persia – areas that adjoin each other, beginning
at the river Indus and ending at the Tigris. Harsh
and mountainous places are found in them, as well as
the rivers Hydaspes and Arbis. These regions are divided
from each other by their own borders and they thus
derive their names from their respective founders. 9.
Aracusia takes its name from its city. Parthia was occupied
by the Parthians, who came from Scythia, and they
named the area after themselves. South of it is the Red
Sea, north of it the Caspian Sea, in the west the territory
of the Medes. There are eighteen kingdoms in it, stretching
from the shores of the Hyrcanian (i.e. Caspian) Sea
to the territories of the Scythians.
10.Assyria derives its name from Asshur, son of Shem,
who was the first inhabitant of this region after the
Flood. It reaches from India in the east to Media in
the south, in the west to the Tigris and in the north
to the Caucasus, where the Caspian passes are. In this
region the purple-fish was first put to use, and from here
came the first lotions and perfumes for hair and body,
with which the luxury of the Romans and the Greeks
abounded. 11. Mediaand Persia (Persida) are named
after the kings Medus and Persus, who invaded these
regions in war. Among these Media obliquely borders the
Parthian kingdoms in the west; in the north it is enclosed
by Armenia; in the east it overlooks the Caspians; in the
south, Persia. Its soil produces the tree ‘Medica,’ which is
rarely found in any other region. There are two Medias,
Greater and Lesser Media. 12. Persia reaches in the east
to the Indus, in the west it has the Red Sea, in the north it
touches Media, in the south-southwest Carmania, which
is connected to Persia and in which the most renowned
city of Susa is located. Persia is the birthplace of the magical
arts. The giant Nebroth went there after the confusion
of the tongues and taught the Persians to worship fire,
for in those regions everyone worships the sun, which is
called El in their language.
13. The word Mesopotamia has a Greek etymology,
because it is “bounded by two rivers” (cf. ,“inthe
middle”; , “river”), for in the east it has the
Tigris, in the west the Euphrates. In the north its territory
begins betweenMountTaurus and the Caucasus; in
the south it borders on Babylonia, then Chaldaea, and
lastly Arabia Felix. 14. Thecity of Babylon is the capital
of Babylonia, from which it also derives its name.
It is so famous that at one time or another Chaldaea,
Assyria, and Mesopotamia came to be included under
its name. 15.The word ‘Arabia’ means “sacred”; it is interpreted
to mean this because the region produces incense
and perfumes: hence the Greeks called it
(“happy”), our Latin speakers beatus (“happy”). 2 Its
woods produce both myrrh and cinnamon: it is the
birthplace of the bird phoenix, and one finds precious
stones there: the sardonyx, iris crystal, malachite, and
opals. This region is also known as Sabaea, after the
son of Cush whose name was Saba. In the east, this land
extends in a narrow tract to the Persian gulf; in the north
it borders on Chaldaea, in the west on the Arabian Sea.
16. Itissaid that a certain Syrus, a native of the land,
named Syria after himself. In the east its boundary is the
Euphrates, in the west the Mediterranean and Egypt; in
the north it touches Armenia and Cappadocia, in the
south the Arabian Sea. Its territory extends immensely
in length, more narrowly in width. 17. It comprises
2 Isidore alludes to a common term for one section of Arabia,
Arabia Felix, “Arabia the Blessed.”