The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

376 XIX.iv.6–vi.5 Isidore of Seville
Ihave come on an amorous voyage, with the sail’s foot
reaching up to the scaphon.
6. Theopisphora are ropes stretched back from the
ends of the yardarm on the right and left. The prosnesium
is the hawser with which a ship at the shore is fastened
to apost. The mitra is a rope thatbindstheship in the
middle.
7. Theanquina is the rope by which the yardarm is
bound to the mast. Concerning it Cinna says (fr. 3):
And the mighty anquina regulates a stable course.
8.Thetow-rope (remulcum)isthe rope with which a ship
is tied and towed instead of relying on oars. Concerning
this Valgius says (fr. 4):
Here my boat, swinging from a long tow-rope
(remulcum), sets me, rejoicing, in these delightful
lodgings.
9.Straps (struppus)are bindings made of leather thongs
or flax by which the oars are attached to the thole-pin
(scalmus). Concerning these (Andronicus) Livius says
(Odyssey 10):
And then he gave the order to fasten the oars with the
straps (struppus).
10. The sounding-lead (catapirates) isalinewithalead
weight, with which the depth of the sea is tested. Lucilius
(Satires 1191)says:
The boy would swallow down this sounding-lead
(catapirates) inthe same way, this little oiled chunk of
lead and flaxen string.
v. Nets (De retibus) 1. Nets(rete) are so named either
from ‘holding’ (retinere) fish, or from the cords (restis)
by which they are stretched. A smaller net is called a
synplagium, from‘snare’ (plagae), for strictly speaking
plagae is the name for those ropes by which nets are
stretched at the bottom and at the top. 2. The drag-net
(funda)isatypeoffishing net, so named because it is sent
to the bottom (fundus). It is also called the casting-net
(iaculum), from casting (iacere). Plautus says (fr. 175):
Before, you were an excellent caster (iaculator) indeed.
3. Thetragum is a type of net so named because it is
drawn (trahere). It is also called the ‘seine’ (verriculum)
because verrere means “drag.” 4. A basket net
(nassa) ... Thehunting-net (cassis, i.e. casses) isatype
of net used by hunters, so named because it captures
(capere). Hence we have the term ‘in vain’ (incassum),
that is, without purpose, as if the term were sine cassibus
(“without hunting-nets”), since without them hunting
is pointless. 5. Mosquito-netting (conopium; cf.
,from,“gnat”) is a net like a tent, by which
gnats are kept out. They are especially used in Alexandria,
because gnats are copiously produced there by the
Nile. Whence it is called conopeum,forEgyptisknownas
Canopea.
vi. The metalworkers’ forge (De fabrorum fornace)
1. The metalworker (faber) has this name assigned to
him from ‘working iron’ (facere ferrum). From this, the
term was extended to the craftsmen of other industrial
materials, and to their workshops (fabrica), but with
amodifier, as in the ‘wood craftsman’ and the rest,
because of the solidity (firmitas), as it were, of their
products.
2. Thepagans say that it is Vulcan who has authoring
over the metalworkers’ forge, by Vulcan figuratively
meaning “fire,” as no kind of metal can be poured or
stretched without fire. There is almost nothing that cannot
be accomplished with fire, for here it prepares glass,
there silver, here lead, there cinnabar, here pigment, there
medicines. With fire stones are melted into bronze, with
fire iron is produced and tamed, with fire gold is fashioned,
and concrete and walls are bonded by stone that
has been burned with fire. 3. Firewhitensblackstones
when it heats them, and darkens white woods by burning
them. It makes black charcoal from glowing coals,
and fragile objects from hard pieces of wood. It creates
incorruptible objects from those that are corruptible. It
loosens what is bound, it binds back what has been loosened.
It softens what is hard and renders hard what is
soft. It has a medicinal use as well, for it is often beneficial
to be burnt (i.e. cauterized). It is also a sure aid against
the plague that is contracted when the sun is obscured.
In any sortofwork,onesubstanceis produced with the
first firing, another with the second, and another with
the third. 4. Fire also has another variation, for there is
one fire that is for human use and another which appears
as a part of divine judgment, whether contracting as a
lightning-bolt from the sky or bursting forth from the
earth through the mountain peaks. 5. Fire(ignis) isso
named because nothing can be born (gignere) fromit,