The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

278 XIII.xvi.6–xviii.3 Isidore of Seville
also this Great Sea is named with different names according
to the region; for it is called Iberian and Asiatic from
the names of provinces, and Balearic, Sicilian, Cretan,
Cypriot, Aegean, Carpathian from the names of islands.
Between Tenedos and Chios there is in the sea a rock –
rather than an island – which is believed to look, to those
who view it from a distance, like a she-goat, which the
Greeks call (gen. ) –and from this the Aegean
Sea is named. Thus also the Carpathian Sea between
Egypt and Rhodes is named from the island Carpathos
which is situated there. 6. The Gallic, Ausonian, Dalmatian
and Ligurian Seas are named from peoples. The
Argolic, Corinthian, Tyrian and Adriatic Seas are named
from cities, for Adria was a certain city near the Illyrian
Sea, which gave its name to the Adriatic Sea. 7.Theymay
be named from their position with respect to the sky,
such as the Upper (Superum) andthe Lower (Inferum)
Seas – because the east is upper and the west is lower –
that is, the Tuscan (i.e. Tyrrhenian, known as Mare
Inferum) andtheAdriatic (Superum).
They may be named asamemorialtoaking,such
as the Ionian. Thus Io was the king of Greece, whence
the Athenians are also known as Ionians. This sea is also
called the Tyrrhenian, either because it washes against
Tuscany – that is, Tyrrhenia – or from the Tyrrhenian
sailors who threw themselves into this sea. One should
know that the Ionian Sea is a huge curve from Ionia to
Sicily, and has as its parts the Adriatic, the Achaean, and
the Epirotic Seas. The Euxine Sea (i.e. the Black Sea)
is named from the behavior of those who live beside it
(cf. ,“hospitable”); earlier it was called ‘Axenus.’
8. Seas may be named from the calamities of people
who perished in them, such as the Hellespont, the Icarian
and the Myrtoan. Now the Myrtoan sea is named
from the drowning of Myrtilus, because at this spot he
was thrown in by Oenomaus. Icarus was from Crete, as
the stories have it, and in seeking the heights, when his
feathers had been loosened by the heat of the sun, he
gave his name to the sea in which he fell and perished.
Phrixus, also fleeing with his sister Helle from their stepmother’s
snares, embarked on a ship bearing the sign of
the ram, on which he escaped. But his sister Helle, a
victim of shipwreck, died in the sea, and once dead gave
her name to the Hellespontic Sea. 9.ThePropontis(i.e.
the Sea of Marmara) is named from the direction of the
current, for it is called Propontis because it comes before
the Pontus (i.e. the Black Sea). The Bosphorus is named
from the ford (cf. ,“ford”) or narrow crossing for
cattle (bos). The Egyptian Sea is assigned to Asia, the
Gallic to Europe, and the African to Libya – for they are
assigned to those regions that are closest to them. 10. A
pelagus is an expanse of sea without shore or harbor; it
is named after the Greek term (“oblique”), that
is, “breadth,” whence also ‘open beach’ (plagia), because
they are without harbors.
xvii. Gulfs of the sea (De sinibus maris) 1. Thelarger
inlets of the sea are called gulfs (sinus), as the Ionian
in the Mediterranean, and in the Ocean, the Caspian,
Indian, Persian and the Arabian gulf – which is also the
RedSea, which is assigned to the Ocean. 2.TheRedSea
is so named because it is colored with reddish waves;
however, it does not possess this quality by its nature,
but its currents are tainted and stained by the neighboring
shores because all the land surrounding that sea is
red and close to the color of blood. From there a very
intense vermilion may be separated out, as well as other
pigments with which the coloring of paintings is varied.
3. Therefore, since the soil has this nature, it is washed
away in rivers, and whatever pigment is eroded lends
color to the water. It is for this reason that red gemstones
are found on these shores, for when a pebble
coveredwith this type of soil is eroded in the sand, it has
the color of both the earth and the sea. 4. TheRedSea
is divided into two gulfs. Of these, the one to the east
is called the Persian Gulf because the Persians live at its
mouth. The other is called the Arabian, because it is next
to Arabia.
xviii. Tides and straits (De aestibus et fretis) 1. Tides
pertain to the Ocean, and straits pertain to the connection
between two seas. A tide (aestus)isarising or falling
of the sea, that is, a restlessness, whence also the word
‘estuary’ (aestuaria), through which the sea by turns rises
and falls. 2.But ‘straits’ (fretum)are named because there
the sea is always seething (fervere); for a strait is narrow,
a‘seething sea’ (fervens mare)asitwere,named from the
agitation of the waves, as if it were ‘agitating the sea’ (fervens
mare), like the Straits of Gibraltar or of Sicily. Varro
(Latin Language 7.22) says that they are called fretum
as if the word were ‘violently agitated’ (fervidus), that is,
‘seething’ (ferventia), and having the motion of ‘extreme
agitation’ (fervor). 3. Sallust (Histories, 4.26) writesthat
the Straits of Sicily, which are called Rhegium, are named