Isidore of Seville, pt. 4

Isidore never claimed to be doing original research for his Etymologies. In fact, he wrote, "the reader reads not my work but rereads that of the ancients." And the Etymologies certainly were comprehensive, although it cannot be said that the twenty books of the Etymologies were arranged in any particular order.

The work starts with grammar and rhetoric, continues on to mathematics (of which music is considered to be a subdivision), medicine, law, several books on theology and the Church, languages and nations, the human body, animals, the natural world, geography, cities and buildings, mineralogy, agriculture, war, ships (also including buildings and clothing), and food, drink, and household belongings.

The Etymologies ended up being a cross between a dictionary, a history book, an encyclopedia, and an etymological dictionary. Several examples, from Priscilla Throop’s excellent modern translation of the Etymologies, are as follows:

II.24.1 Definition of philosophy. Philosophy is the knowledge of divine and human matters, joined with an endeavor to live well. It consists of two things: knowledge, scientia, and opinion, opinatio.

III.9. How many infinite numbers exist. It is very certain that numbers are infinite. Whatever number you think may make an end, I say can be increased not only by the addition of one, but also, however large it may be and however great a multitude it may contain, it can be doubled, indeed multiplied by the reasoning and knowledge of numbers.

XVII.10.1 Vegetables. A garden is named hortus because something always springs up, oritur, there. While some land grows something once a year, a garden is never without produce.

The British Library has an excellent page on the Etymologies, including some pages from copies of the Etymologies from the ninth through twelfth centuries.