The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

are bound for twenty-five years. 54. By‘calltoarms’
(evocatio), when not only soldiers but also other people
are called out (evocare) toasudden battle. At such a
time a consul would say, “He who wants the republic
to be preserved, follow me.” 55. By‘communal oath’
(coniuratio): this is done when there is an uprising, and
the city’s imminent peril leaves no time for individuals
to take an oath, but a multitude is suddenly assembled
and is kindled into tumultuous wrath. This is also called
an uproar (tumultuatio).
56.Inabattle array these are the usual formations: an
army, a levy, a knot, a wedge, the wings, the horns, a column.
These borrow their shapes and their names from
the objects from which the terms have been derived. 57.
The ‘battle array’ (acies; also meaning “cutting edge”) is
so called because it is armed with iron and the sharpness
(acumen) ofswords.58. Anarmy(exercitus) isamultitude
of one kind, so called from its training (exercitatio)
for war. 59. Awedge(cuneus) isacompany of soldiers
gathered into one place. Hence, because it assembles in
one place, this ‘gathering in one place’ (coitio in unum)is
named a cuneus,asifthewordwerecouneus,because all
are assembled in one place. 60.Levies(classis, also meaning
“fleet”) are so called because they are segments of an
army; later these were called maniples. Hence Vergil (cf.
Aen. 2.30):
Here the site for the divisions (classis), here the battle
arrays (acies) would fight.
Nowadays classis also means a fleet (classicum)ofships.
61. Aknot (nodus) properlyisadensecrowdoffoot
soldiers, as a squadron (turma) isofcavalry.It is called
a‘knot’foritsintricacy, because it can scarcely be loosened.62.Thewingsofanarmyaresaidtobethirtycavalrymen.
The cavalry are called the wings (ala) because
they cover the foot soldiers in the manner of wings. 63.
The troops of an army who are farthest out are called
horns (cornu), because their line is curved. 64.Itiscalled
acolumn (agmen)when an army marches, named from
‘driving’ (agere), that is, going. Plautus (The Haunted
11 An early manuscript adds, “for in Greek means
‘houses.’”
12 See v.12 below. Femur literally means “thigh.” It is used here as
aeuphemism for “genitals,” as often in the Vulgate.
13 The Greek terms here are hopelessly garbled in the manuscripts.
In his edition of Book IX (1984), Marc Reydellet ingeniously proposes
(“dense”) and (“numerous”), the latter phrase
sounding like populus.
The Etymologies IX.iii.54–iv.8 203
House 562): “Where are you going (agere)?” Thus it is an
army on the march. It is called a column because it is
arranged in a file, as it would be when an army passes
through gates. In any other sense the term is used incorrectly.
iv. Citizens (De civibus) 1. Wehavespokensomewhat
about reigns and military terms, and now we add a summary
of terms for citizens. 2.Citizens(civis)aresocalled
because they live ‘assembled’ (coire)inonebody,sothat
their common life might be made richer and safer. 3. A
house is the dwelling place of a family, as a city is the
dwelling place of a single populace, and as the world is
the domicile of the whole of humankind. But ‘house’
also refers to a lineage, a family, or the union of husband
and wife. A house (domus) originates with these two
(duo), and the term is Greek (i.e. ,or,“house,
household, family”). 11 A familia consists of the children
of free parents legally begotten from the loins (femur). 12
4. A‘race’ (genus) issocalled from begetting (gignere,
ppl. genitus) and procreating (progenerare), or from the
delimiting of particular descendants (prognatus), as are
nations (natio) that, delimited by their own kinships,
are called ‘stocks of people’ (gens). 5.Apopulace (populus)
iscomposed of a human multitude, allied through
their agreed practice of law and by willing association. A
populace is distinct from the plebeians (plebs), because a
populace consists of all the citizens, including the elders
of the city. [But the plebeians are the remaining people
apart from the elders of the city.] 6.Thereforethe populace
is the whole city, but the common people are the plebeians.
The plebeians are named for their plurality (pluralitas),
for there are more people of lesser status than
there are elders. The populace is called the ,
that is, , and hence the term populus. 13 In Greek
the populace is called ,fromthe term ‘stone’ (lapis;
cf. Greek ,“stone”). The ‘common people’ (vulgus)
is the multitude living here and there – as if it were “each
one where he wishes (vult,fromvelle, “wish”).”
7. The separate courts and assemblies of the people
are called tribes (tribus), and they are so called because
in the beginning the Romans had been separated by
Romulus ‘into three groups’ (trifarie): senators, soldiers,
and plebeians. Although the tribes are now multiplied,
they retain their original name. 8.Itsmembers’ age gave
the senate (senatus)its name, because they were seniors
(senior). Others have it that senators are so called from