The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

for this reason, that at one time Sicily had been joined
to Italy, and when they were a single land, the intervening
space was either overwhelmed by the waters due
to its low elevation, or was cut through due to its narrowness.
And it is named because in Greek this
word means “broken off” (cf. ,“break apart”).
It is exceedingly narrow, dividing Sicily from Italy by a
distance of three Roman miles, and is notorious for fabulous
monsters; on one side appears Scylla, and on the
other Charybdis. 4.Indeed,neighboring people give the
name Scylla to a rock jutting over the sea that is similar
to the fabled shape when seen from a distance. Accordingly
they have attributed to it the monstrous appearance
of the story, as if it had the shape of a human girded with
the heads of dogs, because the current rushing together
there seems to produce the sound of barking. 5.Charybdis
is named because it swallows ships up in its hidden
maelstrom, for it is a sea filled with whirlpools, and for
that reason mangled shipwrecks come out of its depths.
Three times a day its waters rise, and three times a day
it sucks them back in, for it takes waters in so that it
may spit them back out, and spits them out so that it
may take them back in again. 6. TheSyrtes are sandy
places in the sea. Sallust (War withJugurtha 78.3) says
they are called Syrtes from ‘dragging’ (cf. ,“cord
for dragging, rein,” from , “drag”) because they
drag everything towards themselves, and they cling fast
to whoever approaches the shallows of the sea. These
places are in the sea near Egypt, close to one another and
confused with one another. ‘Shallows’ (vadum), however,
are those places in which people and animals can
cross (vadere) the sea or rivers on foot; Vergil calls them
‘shoals’ (brevia), and the Greeks .
xix. Lakes and pools (De lacis et stagnis) 1. Thereare
certain bodies of water that are not mixed with the currents
of theOcean or the Mediterranean, and these are
called lakes and pools. 2.Alakeisabasin in which water is
held and not mixed with currents, such as Lake Asphalti,
Lake Benacus (i.e. present-day Garda), Lake Larius (i.e.
Como), and the others which the Greeks call ,that
is, ‘pools.’ Springs fall into streams, and rivers rush into
channels, but a lake stays in place and does not flow forth.
And it iscalled lake (lacus) asifthetermwere ‘place’
(locus) ofwater. 3. Lake Asphalti (i.e. Lake Asphaltites)
is the same as the Dead Sea, so named because it generates
nothing living and tolerates no type of living crea-
The Etymologies XIII.xviii.4–xix.9 279
ture, for it has no fish and does not allow itself to be
used by birds that are accustomed to water and rejoice
at diving. But whatever living creatures you might try to
submerge in it, they would spring back up; by whatever
procedure they were immersed, and however firmly they
were shoved in, they would immediately be cast out. It is
not moved by winds, since the asphalt, which makes its
water stand still, is resistant to winds. Nor does it allow
sailing, because everything that is not alive sinks into its
depths, and it does not support any material unless it
is made bright with asphalt. 4. People say that a lighted
lamp floats on top, but when its light is extinguished, it
sinks. This is also called the Salt Sea, or Lake Asphalti,
that is, ‘of bitumen,’ and it is in Judea between Jericho
and Zoara. In length it stretches 780 stades (i.e. about
ninety miles) to Zoara in Arabia and its width is 150
stades, up to the neighborhood of Sodom.
5. LakeTiberiusisnamedfromthetownTiberias,
which Herod at one time founded in honor of Tiberius
Caesar, and it is more salubrious than all the other lakes
in Judea, and more efficacious somehow at healing bodies.
Its circumference in stades . . . 6. Lake Gennesaret
(i.e. the Sea of Galilee, the same as Lake Tiberius) is
the biggest in Judea with a length of 140 stades, and a
width of 40.Ithaschoppywatersand produces a breeze
for itself not from the winds, but from its own self. For
this reason it is named with a Greek word, Genesar, as
if the term were ‘generating a breeze for itself’ (generans
sibi auram). The Lake, then, is agitated over a wide
area by these frequent puffing breezes, with the result
that it is pure draught, sweet and good for drinking. 7.
Benacus (i.e. Garda) is a lake in Italy, in Venetia, whence
the river Mincius arises. Due to its size, this lake imitates
the storms of the sea. 8. LucrinusandAvernus are lakes
in Campania. Lucrinus is so named because at one time
it furnished great revenues (cf. lucrum, “profit”) due to
its abundance of fish. Lake Avernus was named because
birds (avis) wereunabletoflyoverit,forinanearlier
time it was so surrounded with a thick forest that the
overpowering odor of its sulfurous water, evaporating
in an enclosed space, would kill the birds flying over it
with its exhalation. Caesar Augustus on hearing of this
cut down the trees and made the place pleasant again,
restored from its unwholesome state. 9.Further,alake is
the same as a pool where an immense amount of water
collects. And it is called ‘pool’ (stagnus) because there
the water stands (stare)anddoesnot run forth.