The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

380 XIX.xvi.1–xvii.12 Isidore of Seville
for the human being who was first made from mud
(see Genesis 2:7).
xvi. Pictures (De picturis) 1.Apictureisanimagerepresenting
the appearance of some object, which, when
viewed, leads the mind to remember. It is called ‘picture’
(pictura) asifthewordwerefictura, for it is a made-up
(fictus) image, and not the truth. Hence also the term
‘painted’ (fucatus), that is, daubed with some artificial
color and possessing no credibility or truth. Thus some
pictures go beyond the substance of truth in their attention
to color, and in their efforts to increase credibility
move into falsehood, just as someone who paints a
three-headed Chimera, or a Scylla as human in the upper
half and girded with dogs’ heads below. 2.TheEgyptians
first discovered the picture when they outlined a person’s
shadow with a line. It began like this, and was followed by
the use of single colors, and afterwards by assortments
of colors, so that gradually this art defined itself, and
devised light and shadow and the differences in color.
For this reason even now painters (pictor)firstdrawcertain
shadows and the outlines of the images to come,
and then fill in the colors, following the order in which
the art was discovered.
xvii. Colorings (De coloribus) 1.Colorings (color)are
so named because they are perfected by the heat (calor)
of fire or of the sun, or because in the beginning they
used to be filtered(colere) sothat they would be as fine
as possible. 2. Colorings either occur naturally or are
manufactured. They occur naturally, as for example, red
ochre, red earth, Paraetonium, Melinum, Eretria, and
gold-coloring. The others are manufactured either by
artifice or by mixture.
3.Redochre(sinopis)wasfound first along the Black
Sea, whence it takes its name from the city Sinope. There
are three kinds: red, less-red, and something between
these two. 4. Redearth (rubrica) issonamed because it
is red (ruber) andsimilar to blood in color. It occurs in
many places, but the best is from the Black Sea (Pontus),
whence it is also called ‘Pontic.’ 5. Syrian(Syricum) isa
pigment with a red color, with which the chapter-heads
in books are written. It is also known as Phoenician, so
called because it is collected in Syria on the shores of
the Red Sea, where the Phoenicians live. 6. Now,‘silk’
(sericum)isone thing, and ‘Syrian’ (Syricum)isanother,
for silk is a fiber that the Chinese (Seres; East Asians
generally) export, while Syrian is a pigment that the Syrian
Phoenicians gather at the shores of the Red Sea. It
may also be counted among the manufactured pigments,
for it is often made by being mixed either with red ocher
or with vermilion (sandix).
7.The Greeks are reported to have been the first to discover
‘red lead’ (minium), in the soil of Ephesus. Spain is
more abundant in this pigment than other regions, and
for this reason it has given its name to a particular river
(i.e. the Minius, present-day Miño). When distilled, it
produces liquid silver (i.e. quicksilver). Some people say
that this red lead is cinnabar. 8. Cinnabar (cinnabaris)
is named from draco (gen. draconis,“dragon”) and barrus,
that is, ‘elephant,’ for they say that it is the blood
of dragons, shed when they entwine themselves around
elephants. 7 The elephants charge, and the dragons are
overpowered, and the gore they shed dyes the earth, and
apigment is produced from what has stained the soil. It
is a red-colored powder. 9.Although prasin, that is, green
clay, is produced in mixed form in some lands, nevertheless
the best is the Cyrenian, in Libya. 10. Chrysocolla is
grass-green in color, so named because its veins are said
to contain gold (cf. ,“gold”; ,“glue”). This
occurs in Armenia, but the preferred variety comes from
Macedonia. It is mined along with the metal copper, and
where it is discovered, silver and indigo are also found,
for veins of chrysocolla have a natural association with
these substances.
The pigment cypria is named from the island of
Cyprus, where it is found in quantity. 11. Sandarach
(sandaraca) occurs on the island Topazus in the Red
Sea. It has the color of cinnabar and the odor of sulfur.
It is found in gold and silver mines, and the redder
it is and the worse it smells the better its quality.
However, ‘white lead’ (cerussa), if it is baked in a furnace,
produces sandarach, which as a result has a flamelike
color. But if it is baked mixed with an equal part
of red earth, it yields vermilion (sandix). 12. Arsenic
(arsenicum), which Latin speakers call auripigmentum
(“orpiment,” lit. “gold-pigment”) because of its color,
is collected at the Black Sea from goldmine material,
where sandarach is also found. The best arsenic takes
on a golden color. It is pure and easily broken along the
course of its veins. That which is paler or like sandarach
7 Cinnabar (mercury sulfide) is also called ‘dragon’s blood’; vermilion
is made from it.