The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

276 XIII.xi.21–xiii.11 Isidore of Seville
when they say, “in that tempestas”–oritisnamedfrom
the condition (status)ofthe sky, because due to its size, a
storm brews for many days. Spring and autumn are the
seasons when the biggest storms occur, when it is not full
summer and not full winter. Hence storms are created
out of a confluence of opposing airs at the midpoint and
change of these two seasons. 21.Athunder-peal (fragor)is
named from the sound of things being broken (frangere),
because anything dry and brittle breaks easily. 22.Agale
(procella) issonamed because it ‘hits hard’ (percellere),
that is, it strikes (percutere) and uproots (evellere); it is
the power of wind along with rain. Gales are caused by
lightning or winds. Nothing is faster than the winds, and
because of their swiftness poets picture both winds and
lightning as winged, as in (Vergil, Aen. 8.430):
Of winged Auster ...
xii. Waters (De aquis) 1. Water (aqua) issonamed
because its surface is ‘even’ (aequalis), hence it is also
called aequor (lit. “level surface,” used metaphorically
for the sea), because its height is even. 2. The two most
potent elements of human life are fire and water, whence
those to whom fire and water are forbidden are gravely
condemned. 3. The element of water rules over all the
rest, for water tempers the sky,makes the earth fertile,
gives body to the air with its exhalation, ascends to the
heights, and claims the sky for itself. Indeed, what is
more amazing than water standing in the sky? 4. Andit
is not enough that it reaches such a height, but it snatches
aschool of fish with it (i.e., perhaps, in a waterspout),
and when poured out becomes the cause of all growing
things on earth. It brings forth fruits and trees, produces
shrubs and grasses, cleans away filth, washes away sins,
and provides drink for all living creatures.
xiii. Different kinds of water (De diversitate aquarum)
1. There is a great diversity in the different qualities of
water, for some water is salty, some alkaline, some with
alum, some sulfuric, some tarry, and some containing
a cure for illnesses. Near Rome the waters of the Abula
(i.e. the Tiber) heal wounds. 2. InItaly the spring of
Cicero cures eye injuries. In Ethiopia there is a lake that
makes bodies drenched with it glisten, just as oil does.
The spring of Zama in Africa makes voices melodious.
Whoever drinks from Lake Clitorius in Italy will have a
distaste for wine. 3. Thereissaid to be aspringonthe
island of Chios that makes people sluggish. In Boeotia
there are two fountains; one confers memory, the other,
forgetfulness. The fountain of Cyzicus removes carnal
desire. 4.InBoeotia there is a lake that causes madness;
whoever drinks from it burns with the heat of lust. In
Campania there are waters that are said to cure sterility
in women and insanity in men. Whoever drinks from
the fountain Rubrus in Ethiopia becomes frantic. 5.The
fountain Leinus in Arcadia does not allow an untimely
birth to occur. In Sicily there are two fountains; one
of them makes the sterile fertile, and the other renders
the fertile sterile. In Thessaly there are two rivers; sheep
drinking from one of them become black, those drinking
from the other white, and those drinking from both have
mixed colors. 6.Thelake Clitumnus in Umbria produces
very large oxen. The hooves of livestock are hardened by
the swamp water of Reate. Nothing that is alive is able to
sink in the lake Asphaltites (i.e. the Dead Sea) in Judea.
7.InIndia there is a standing pool called Side, in which
nothing can swim; everything sinks. In contrast to this,
everything floats in the lake Apuscidamus in Africa and
nothing sinks. The spring of Marsida in Phrygia casts
up stones. In Achaea, water called the Styx flows from
rocks; this water, when it is drunk, kills immediately. 8.
The Gelonian pool of Sicily repels those who approach
it with its foul smell. There is a spring in Africa around
the temple of Ammon that binds soil together with the
bonds of its water; it even solidifies ashes into soil. The
fountain of Job in Idumaea is said to change color four
times a year; that is, dust-colored, blood-colored, green,
and clear. It keeps each one of these colors for three
months out of the year. 9.Thereisalakeinthecountry
of the Troglodytes; three times a day it becomes bitter,
and then, just as often, sweet again. The Siloan spring
at the foot of Mount Zion has no continuous flow of
water, but bubbles forth at certain hours and days. In
Judea a certain river used to go dry every Sabbath. 10.
In Sardinia warm springs heal eyes, and expose thieves,
for when blindness is cured, their crimes are revealed.
They say there is a spring in Epirus in which lit torches are
extinguished and extinguished torches are lit. According
to the Garamantes (i.e. Africans) there is a fountain that
is too cold to drink from during the day, and too hot
to touch atnight. 11.Indeed, in many places waters now
flow with perpetual boiling of such vigor that they make
baths hot. There are some lands that have a great deal of
sulfur and alum. And thus, when the cold water comes