The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

skin, but a mitra is made of wool. The ricula (i.e. a small
veil) is a mitra for the head ofavirgin.6.Fillets are what
are fastened in the hair; they gather up loose hair, and
they are called fillets (vitta)because they bind (vincire).
The taenia (i.e. ribbon) is the end of the fillet, and it
hangs down in various colors. Again, a crown is tied on
withafillet,andthetaenia is the lowest part of the fillet,
the part that hangs down from the crown. 7. Ahair-net
(reticulum) iswhat gathers the hair, so named because
it ‘holds hair’ (retinere crines), so that it is not loose. 23 8.
The discriminale for women’s heads is so named because
it parts the head (i.e. the hair) with gold, for ‘to part’
means ‘to separate’ (discriminare).
Antiae are the curls hanging down around the earlobes.
It is from a Greek word, ‘opposite’ (i.e. )
the ears. 9.Thehairpin (acus)iswhat holds an arrangement
for adorning women’s hair in place, lest strands of
hair fall loose and fly about here and there. 10. Earrings
(inaures) arenamedfromthe pierced places of the ears
(auris), from which precious beads of stone hang. They
were worn this way in Greece: girls would wear them in
both ears, and boys would wear them only in the right
ear. 11. Torques (torquis) are gold circles hanging from
the neck onto the chest. Both torques and bullae (i.e.
lockets for amulets) are worn by men, but women wear
monilia (necklaces) and catellae (neck-chains). Torques
are so called because they are twisted (torquere), and
bullae because in their roundness they are like a bubble
(bulla)inflated in the water by the wind.
12. A monile is an ornament made out of gems,
which would be hung around the neck by women. It
is named from ‘gift’ (munus). This is also called a serpentum
because it consists of certain gold beads (lit.
“small amphoras”) and various gemstones arranged in
the shape of a serpent. Some people call this a segmentum,asJuvenal
does (Satires 2.124):
Segmenta (properly, “flounces”) and long clothes.
However, we also speak of clothing as ‘trimmed’
(segmentatus; cf. xxii.18 above), as in the same author
(6.89):
And the little girl would have slept in a flounced
(segmentatus) cradle.
23 Isidore may tacitly refer to the word rete,“net,” as a basis of the
etymology.
The Etymologies XIX.xxxi.6–xxxii.2 391
13. However,frequently any of a matron’s ornaments is
referred to by the term munile (i.e. monile)–whichever
ones are given to her as a gift (munus). 14.Amurena (lit.
“eel”) is so called in common usage, because a chain of
aflexible kind, made of pliant tube-beads of gold metal,
suitable for adorning the neck, is made in the likeness
of a serpentine murena. Sometimes this is constructed
from tube-beads of gold and of silver. Whence also it
is said in the Song of Songs (1:10): “We will make thee
chains (murenulae)ofgold, inlaid with silver.”
15. Catellae are chainlets (catenula)for the neck, linking
to each other like chains (catena), whence they are
named. 16. Bracelets (dextra, i.e. dextrale) areworn by
both men and women, because both sexes wear them
on the right hand (dextera). Armbands (armilla) are,
properly speaking, for men (vir), conferred on soldiers
in recognition of a victory for their valor (virtus)inarms
(arma). For this reason they were sometimes also commonly
called viriolae (perhaps read viriliae). An armilla
is no different from a bracelet (circulus)inwhatitsignifies,
because it also encloses something by encircling the
place whereitisput,butanarmilla is more extended in
depth and a circulus is rounded. 17. Fibulae (i.e. pins or
brooches) are used to adorn a woman’s breast or are worn
by men to holdacloak over their shoulders, or a belt
around their hips. Lunulae are ornaments for women;
they are small pendent gold balls shaped like the moon
(luna).
18. Mirrors(speculum) arewhat women use to look
at their faces. A mirror is so named either because the
reflection is produced from its brightness (splendor)
or because women looking in it study the appearance
(species) oftheir face and add whatever ornament they
see is lacking. 19. Ankle bracelets (periscelis) areornaments
for women’s legs, which adorn their appearance
as they walk by. ‘Scent bottles’ (olfactoriolum) are small
vessels for women, in which perfumes are carried.
xxxii. Rings (De anulis) 1. Prometheusissaid to have
been the first to put on his finger a circle ofironwith
astone set into it; following this practice people began
to wear rings. Rings (anulus)are named as a diminutive
from the circlets and hoops (anus) thatgoaroundthe
arms and legs. Likewise the signets (signum)ofrings are
as a diminutive called sigilla. Asignum is larger, and a
sigillum is like a smaller signum. 2. People first began