The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

lentus –whence osiers and vines are also lentus. Vergil
(cf. Geo. 4.558, Ecl. 3.38):
And the supple (lentus) vines,
for ‘flexible.’ Mastic’s fruit exudes oil, and its bark a resin
that is called mastix. Itgrows abundantly on the island
of Chios and is of better quality there. 52. Theturpentine
tree (terebinthus), its name Greek (i.e. ,
), produces a resin excellent beyond all resins.
53. Theboxtree(buxum) hasaGreekname partly corrupted
in Latin, for in Greek it is called . Itisan
evergreen tree and useful for receiving the shapes of letters
because of the smoothness of its wood. Whence also
Scripture (cf. Isaiah 30:8): “Write upon box (buxum).”
54.The oleander (rhododendron), which commonly and
incorrectly is called lorandrum because its leaves are
like laurel (laurus), has a flower like a rose (cf. ,
“rose”). It is a poisonous tree, for it kills animals and
heals snakebites. 55. Shepherds call one tree herbitum
because they give it to livestock in place of grass where
pasturage is lacking.
56. Turbiscus (perhaps , “spurge-flax”) is
so named because from one clump of it many shoots
rise, as if it were a ‘crowd’ (turba). Straw (stipa) isso
named because roofs are thatched (stipare) withit.Its
diminutive form is stipula. 57. Thereed (arundo) isso
called because it quickly dries up (arescere). The ancients
called it ‘cane’ (canna); afterwards Varro called it arundo.
It should be understood that the Latin canna derives
from Hebrew: in Hebrew canna means “reed” (calamus).
Cicuta is the part between the nodes of cane,
so called because it is concealed. 14 58. Itissaid that in
Indian marshes grow reeds and canes from whose roots
is pressed a very sweet juice that people drink. Hence
Varro (i.e. Varro Atacinus, not Marcus Terentius Varro)
says (fr. 20):
The Indian reed does not grow into a great tree; its sap is
squeezed from its supple roots, and no sweet honey can
vie with its juice.
59. Theelder (sabucus) isasoftandporoustree.The
rhamnus is a kind of bramble-bush that commonly is
14 Cicuta is elsewhere the bush ‘hemlock’; see ix.71 below.
15 Vergil speaks of the Crustumian pear, named after the city Crustumium,
and another type of pear, the volemis (Geo. 2.88). Isidore
takes them as olives from a misreading of Servius’s commentary on
Vergil.
The Etymologies XVII.vii.52–vii.68 347
called bear-briar (sentix ursina), a very rough and thorny
bush. 60.The briar-bush (sentix)isnamedfrom‘wasteland’
(situs), which is uncultivated land in which briars
and thorns grow. Our ancestors would call every prickly
tree a thornbush (vepris), because it ‘clings forcefully’
(vi prendere).
61. Thewildolive (oleaster) issocalled because it
has leaves like the olive’s (oliva; cf. the pejorative suffix
-aster) but broader. It is an uncultivated and wild tree,
bitter and unfruitful. A branch of olive grafted on a wild
olive changes the potency of its root and converts the tree
into its proper character as an olive. The sap of the wild
olive is of two kinds. One is like gum without any biting
quality, the other is ammoniac pitch collected from the
drippings, and is biting. 62.Theolive (oliva)inGreekis
called (“olive oil”; cf. , “olive-tree, olive”),
whence it has been taken into Latin as oliva.Butthetree
itself is olea, thefruit oliva, andthe oil oleum. Thetree
is a symbol of peace, and its fruits are called by diverse
names. 63.Theorchas olive has a Greek etymology, and is
so called from its likeness to a testicle, which the Greeks
call . 64.Theradiola olive is sonamed because it is
elongated like a ray (radius). The Paphian olive is named
for the island of Paphos from which it was first imported.
65.Thelycinia olive, because its oil gives the best light, for
means “light” (cf. ,“lamp”). From this the
word ‘firewood’ (lignum) also receives its name, because
it is good for burning and light.
66.Thepausia olive, which country people incorrectly
call pusia (i.e. posia), is good for its sweet and green oil.
It is called pausia because it is ‘pounded down’ (pavire),
that is, crushed – from this word also comes ‘pavement’
(pavimentum). 67. The Syrian olive is so called because
it was brought over from Syria, or because it is darkskinned.
The crustumia olive is also called the volemis, 15
so called because it fills the palm (vola), that is, the middle
of the hand, with its large size; from this root we also
have the word ‘seize’ (involare). However, some understand
the word volemus to mean “good” and “large”
in the Gallic language. Pickled olives (colymbas) areso
called . . .
68. ‘Oliveoil’(oleum) isnamed from the olive tree
(olea), for as I have already said, olea is the tree, from
which is derived the word oleum. Butwhat is pressed
from white olives is called ‘Spanish oil,’ and
in Greek. What is pressed from tawny, immature olives
is called ‘green oil,’ but what comes from overly mature