The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

For example, flumen (“river”) is so called from fluendum
(“flowing”) because it has grown by flowing. 2.The
knowledge of a word’s etymology often has an indispensable
usefulness for interpreting the word, for when
you haveseenwhenceawordhasoriginated, you understand
its force more quickly. Indeed, one’s insight into
anything is clearer when its etymology is known. 30 However,
not all words were established by the ancients from
nature; some were established by whim, just as we sometimes
give names to our slaves and possessions according
to what tickles our fancy. 3. Henceitisthe case that
etymologies are not to be found for all words, because
some things received names not according to their innate
qualities, but by the caprice of human will.
Etymologies of words are furnished either from their
rationale (causa), as ‘kings’ (rex,gen.regis)from[‘ruling’
(regendum) and] ‘acting correctly’ (recte agendum); or
from their origin, as ‘man’ (homo) because he is from
‘earth’ (humus), or from the contrary, as ‘mud’ (lutum)
from ‘washing’ (lavare,ppl. lutus), since mud is not clean,
and ‘grove’ (lucus), because, darkened by its shade, it
is scarcely ‘lit’ (lucere). 4. Somearecreated by derivation
from other words, as ‘prudent’ (prudens)from‘prudence’
(prudentia); some from the sounds, as ‘garrulous’
(garrulus) from ‘babbling sound’ (garrulitas). Some are
derived from Greek etymology and have a Latin declension,
as ‘woods’ (silva), ‘home’ (domus). 5.Otherwords
derive their names from names of places, cities, [or]
rivers. In addition, many take their names from the languages
of various peoples, so that it is difficult to discern
their origin. Indeed, there are many foreign words unfamiliar
to Latin and Greek speakers.
xxx. Glosses (De glossis) 1. ‘Gloss’ (glossa) receivesits
name from Greek, with the meaning ‘tongue.’ Philosophers
call it adverbum, because it defines the utterance
in question by means of one single word (verbum): in
one word it declares what a given thing is, as contiscere est
tacere (“‘to fall still’ is ‘to be silent’”). 2.Again in (Vergil,
Aen. 10.314):
Latus haurit apertum (gouges the exposed flank),
30 Fontaine 1981:100 notes that this sentence is adapted from a
legal maxim cited by Tertullian, De Fuge 1.2: “Indeed, one’s insight
into anything is clearer when its author is known” – substituting
etymologia cognita for auctore cognito.
31 Isidore wrote a separate treatise, De differentiis,onthis subject.
The Etymologies I.xxix.2–xxxii.4 55
‘gouges’ (haurit, lit. “drinks”) is glossed as ‘pierces
through’ (percutit). And again, as when we gloss ‘termination’
(terminus) as‘end’ (finis), and we interpret
‘ravaged’ (populatus) tobe‘devastated’ (vastatus), and
in general when we make clear the meaning of one word
by means of one other word.
xxxi. Differentiation (De differentiis) 31 A differentiation
(differentia)isatypeofdefinition,whichwriterson
the liberal arts call ‘concerning the same and the different.’
Thus two things, of the kind that are confused with
each other because of a certain quality that they have
in common, are distinguished by an inferred difference,
through which it is understood what each of the two is.
For instance, one asks what is the difference between a
‘king’ and a ‘tyrant’: we define what each is by applying a
differentiation, so that “a king is restrained and temperate,
but a tyrant is cruel.” Thus when the differentiation
between these two has been given, then one knows what
each of them is. And so on in the same way.
xxxii. Barbarism (De barbarismo) 1. A barbarism
(barbarismus) isawordpronouncedwithacorrupted
letter or sound: a corrupted letter, as in floriet (i.e. the
incorrect future form of florere, “bloom”), when one
ought to say florebit (“will bloom”); a corrupted sound,
if the first syllable is lengthened and the middle syllable
omitted in words like latebrae (“hiding places”), tenebrae
(“shadows”). It is called ‘barbarism’ from barbarian
(barbarus)peoples, since they were ignorant of the purity
of the Latin language, for some groups of people, once
they had been made Romans, brought to Rome their
mistakes in language and customs as well as their wealth.
2.Thereis this difference between a barbarism and a borrowing
(barbarolexis), that a barbarism occurs in a Latin
word when it is corrupted, but when foreign words are
brought into Latin speech, it is called ‘borrowing.’ Further,
when a fault of language occurs in prose, it is called a
barbarism, but when it occurs in meter, it is called a metaplasm
(metaplasmus). 3. Inaddition, a barbarism can
occur in written or spoken language. In written language
it occurs in four ways: if someone adds, changes, transposes,
or removes a letter in a word or syllable. In spoken
language it may occur in length, intonation, aspiration,
and other ways that will follow. 4.Abarbarism by length
is made if someone says a short syllable for a long, or a
long for a short. A barbarism by intonation, if the accent