The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

136 VI.ii.1–ii.19 Isidore of Seville
ii. The writers and names of the Sacred Books
(De scriptoribus et vocabulis sanctorum librorum)
1. According to Hebrew tradition the following are
accepted as authors of the Old Testament. First Moses
produced the cosmography (cosmographia)ofthedivine
story in the five scrolls that are called the Pentateuch. 2.
The Pentateuch is so called from its five scrolls, for
is “five” in Greek, and is “scroll.” 3. Thebook of
Genesis is so called because the beginning of the world
and the begetting (generatio)oflivingcreatures are contained
in it. 4.Exodusrecountstheexit(exitus)oregress
of the people Israel from Egypt, whence it takes its name.
5.Leviticus is so named because it describes the services
and the variety of sacrificial rites of the Levites, and in it
the whole Levitical order is commented on.
6. The book of Numbers is so called because in it the
tribes of the exodus from Egypt are enumerated (dinumerare),
and the description of the forty-two journeystages
in the wilderness is contained in it (Numbers 33:1–
49). 7. DeuteronomyisnamedwithaGreekterm(cf.
,“second”; ,“law”) which in Latin means
“second law”(secunda lex), that is, a repetition and a
prefiguration of the Gospel law; the Gospel contains the
earlier matters in such a way that all things that are replicated
in it are nevertheless new. 8. Thebookof Joshua
takes its name from Jesus son of Nave, whose story it
contains – in fact the Hebrews claim that its writer was
this same Joshua. In this text, after the crossing of the Jordan
the kingdoms of the enemy are destroyed, the land
is divided for the people, and the spiritual kingdoms of
the Church and the Heavenly Jerusalem are prefigured
through the individual cities, hamlets, mountains, and
borders.
9. Judges is named from those leaders of the people
who presided over Israel after Moses and Joshua and
before David and the other kings were alive. Samuel
is believed to have produced this book. The book of
Samuel describes the birth, priesthood, and deeds of this
same Samuel, and therefore takes its name from him.
10. Although this book contains the story of Saul and
David, both are still connected to Samuel, because he
anointed Saul into his kingship, and he anointed David
as the future king. Samuel wrote the first part of this
book, and David wrote the sequel, up to its conclusion.
11.Likewise the book of Malachim is so called because it
recounts in chronological order the kings of Judah and
the nation of Israel along with their deeds, for Malachim
is a Hebrew word that means ‘Kings’ (Reges) inLatin.
Jeremiah first gathered this book into one volume, for
earlier it was dispersed as the narratives of the individual
kings. 12. Paralipomenon (i.e. Chronicles) is named
with a Greek word; we can call it the book ‘of omissions’
or ‘of leftovers’ (cf. , ppl. ,
“pass over”), because what was omitted or not fully told
in the Law or the books of Kings is recounted there in
brief summary.
13. SomesayMoseswrote the book of Job, others say
one of the prophets, and some even consider that Job
himself, after the calamity he suffered, was the writer,
thinking that the man who underwent the struggles of
spiritual combat might himself narrate the victories he
procured. 14.The beginning and end of the book of Job
in Hebrew is composed in prose, but the middle of it,
from the place where he says (3:3), “Let the day perish
wherein I was born” up to (42:6), “Therefore Ireprehend
myself, and do penance” all runs in heroic meter.
15. The book of Psalms is called in Greek the Psalter
(Psalterium), in Hebrew Nabla, and in Latin Organum.It
is called the book of Psalms because one prophet would
sing to a psaltery-lute and the chorus would respond in
the same tone. Moreover the Hebrew title heading the
psalms is this: Sepher Thehilim, which means “scroll
of hymns.” 16. The authors of the psalms are those
whose names are given in the titles, namely Moses,
David, Solomon, Asaph, Ethan, Idithun, the sons of
Core, Eman, Ezraitha and the rest, whom Ezra gathered
into the one scroll. 17. Furthermore, all the psalms
of the Hebrews are known to have been composed in
lyric meter; in the manner of the Roman Horace and the
Greek Pindar they run now on iambic foot, now they
resound in Alcaic, now they glitter in Sapphic measure,
proceeding on trimeter or tetrameter feet.
18. David’ssonSolomon,king of Israel, produced
three scrolls in accordance with the number of his names
(see VII.vi.65). The first of these is Masloth, which
the Greeks call Parabolae, and the Latins call Proverbs
(Proverbia), because in it he displayed figures of words
(verbum)and images of the truth (veritas)bywayof analogy.
19.Moreoverhereservedthetruthforhisreadersto
interpret. He called the second book Coheleth, which in
Greek means Ecclesiastes, in Latin ‘The Preacher’ (Contionator),
because his speech is not directed specifically
to one person, as in Proverbs, but generally to everyone,
teaching that all the things that we see in the world are