The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

curved and inclined and bent in the manner of a circle.
7. TheMilky Circle (lacteus circulus, i.e. the Milky Way)
is the road seen in the sphere of the sky, named for its
brightness, because it is white. Some people say that this
road is where the sun makes its circuit, and that it shines
from the splendor of the sun’s transit.
vi. The circles of heaven (De circulis caeli) 1. Our
dwelling-place is divided into zones according to the
circles of the sky and has allowed some regions to be
inhabited due to their mildness, and denied this to other
regions due to their excessive cold or heat. There are five
zones, which are either called zones (zona,lit.“belt”)or
circles because they consist of a circle drawn around the
sphere of the world. 2. The first of these circles is called
the (“the Arctic”) 4 because enclosed within it
can be seen the constellations of the Bears (Arctos) –
the name that, imagining the shape of bears, we give to
the Septentriones. 3. Thesecond circle is called
(i.e. “summer”) because the sun, when causing
summer at the northern edge of this circle, does not
go beyond this circle, but immediately turns back, and
thus it is called (“at the turning point”). 4.The
third circle is , whichiscalled the equinoctial
(aequinoctialis)byLatin speakers because the sun, when
it reaches this region, makes an equinox (aequinoctium).
In Latin (in Greek actually “of day”) is translated
as ‘day and night,’ and in this circle we observe that
the medial segment of the sphere (i.e. the equator) is set.
5. Thefourth circle is called because it is
opposite to the circle we call . 6.Thefifth circle
is the (i.e. “winter”) ,whichin Latin
is called ‘winter’ or ‘of the winter solstice,’ because when
it comes to this circle the sun makes winter for those who
live in the north and summer for those in the southern
parts. 7.Thezodiac is a circle . . .
vii. Air and clouds (De aere et nube) 1.Airisan emptiness
of more open texture than other elements. Concerning
it Vergil says (Aen. 12.354):
Following (him) through the long emptiness.
Air (aer) isnamedfromtheword (i.e. ,
“to raise”) because it bears the earth or because it is
4 Isidore gives the names of the five zones (belts, not circles) in
Greek.
The Etymologies XIII.v.7–ix.1 273
borne. The term refers partly to earthy and partly to
heavenly material. That which is very fine, where winds
and tempests cannot exist, makes up the celestial part,
but that which is more turbulent, which takes on bodily
substance with exhalations of moisture, is defined as
earthy; it gives rise to many forms of itself. For when it
is stirred, it makes winds; when more vehemently agitated,
it makes lightning and thunder; when compressed,
clouds; when condensed, rain; when it has frozen clouds,
snow; when denser clouds freeze with more turbulence,
hail; when it expands, bright weather. Thus dense air is
cloud, and dispersed and loosened cloud is air.
2.Clouds (nubes)are named from ‘veiling’ (obnubere),
that is, covering the sky; whence also brides (nupta),
because they veil their faces, and also Neptune (Neptunus),
because he casts a veil (nubere), that is, covers
the sea and earth. The condensation of air makes clouds,
for the winds lump the air together and make a cloud,
whence this in Vergil(Aen. 5.20):
And the air is forced into a cloud.
viii. Thunder (De tonitruo) 1.Thunder (tonitrus)isso
named because the sound of it terrifies, for a tone (tonus)
is a sound. Sometimes this shakes everything so violently
that it seems to have split the sky, because, when a blast
of very violent wind suddenly throws itself into clouds,
with an increasingly powerful whirlwind seeking an exit,
with a great crash it tears through the cloud, which it
has hollowed out, and thus thunder is carried to the
ears with a horrendous din. 2.Noone should be amazed
at this, since when a vessel explodes it makes a loud
noise, however small it is. A flash of lightning is produced
at the same time as the thunder, but it is seen sooner
because it is bright; thunder reaches the ears later. The
light that appears before the thunder is called a ‘lightning
bolt’ (fulgetra). As we have said, it is seen first because
its light is bright, and the thunder comes to one’s ears
later.
ix. Lightning (De fulminibus) 1. Lightning (fulgur)
and the ‘lightning bolt’ (fulmen), the strokes of a celestial
dart, are named from ‘striking’ (ferire); for to ‘flash’ (fulgere)
isto‘strike’ and to ‘cut through.’ Colliding clouds
cause lightning, for the collision of any things creates fire,
as we notice with stones, and the rubbing of wheels, and
in forests of trees; in a similar way fire occurs in clouds.