Etymologiae (Latin for The Etymologies), also known as the Origines (Origins) and usually abbreviated Orig., is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636), an influential Christian bishop, towards the end of his life. Isidore was encouraged to write the book by his friend Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa. The Etymologies summarized and organized a wealth of knowledge from hundreds of classical sources; three of its books are derived largely from Pliny the Elder's Natural History. Isidore acknowledges Pliny, but not his other principal sources, namely Cassiodorus, Servius, and Gaius Julius Solinus.
Etymologiae covers an encyclopedic range of topics. Etymology, the origins of words, is prominent, but the work also covers, among other things, grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, geometry, music, astronomy, medicine, law, the Roman Catholic Church and heretical sects, pagan philosophers, languages, cities, humans, animals, the physical world, geography, public buildings, roads, metals, rocks, agriculture, war, ships, clothes, food, and tools.
Etymologiae was a widely used textbook throughout the Middle Ages. It was so popular that it was read in place of many of the original classical texts that it summarized; as a result, some of these ceased to be copied and were lost. It was cited by Dante Alighieri (who placed Isidore in his Paradiso), quoted by Geoffrey Chaucer, and mentioned by the poets Boccaccio, Petrarch, and John Gower. Among the thousand-odd surviving manuscript copies is the 13th-century Codex Gigas; the earliest surviving manuscript, the , preserves books XI to XX from the 9th century. Etymologiae was printed in at least ten editions between 1472 and 1530, after which its importance faded during the Renaissance. The first scholarly edition was printed in Madrid in 1599; the first modern critical edition was edited by Wallace Lindsay in 1911.
Etymologiae is less well known in modern times, though modern scholars recognize its importance both in preserving classical texts and for insight into the medieval mindset.
Context
Isidore of Seville was born around 560 in Cartagena, Spain, under the unstable rule of the Visigoths after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West. His older brother, Leander, the abbot of a Seville monastery, supervised Isidore's education, probably in the school attached to his monastery. Leander was a powerful priest, a friend of Pope Gregory, and eventually he became bishop of Seville. Leander also made friends with the Visigothic king's sons, Hermenigild and Reccared. In 586, Reccared became king, and in 587 under Leander's religious direction he became a Catholic, controlling the choice of bishops. Reccared died in 601, not long after appointing Isidore as bishop of Seville.
Isidore helped to unify the kingdom through Christianity and education, eradicating the Arian heresy which had been widespread, and led National Councils at Toledo and Seville. Isidore had a close friendship with king Sisebut, who came to the throne in 612, and with another Seville churchman, Braulio, who later became bishop of Saragossa.
Isidore was widely read, mainly in Latin with a little Greek and Hebrew. He was familiar with the works of both the church fathers and pagan writers such as Martial, Cicero and Pliny the Elder, this last the author of the major encyclopaedia then in existence, the Natural History. The classical encyclopedists had already introduced alphabetic ordering of topics, and a literary rather than observational approach to knowledge: Isidore followed those traditions. Isidore became well known in his lifetime as a scholar. He started to put together a collection of his knowledge, the Etymologies, in about 600, and continued to write until about 625.
Overview
Etymologiae presents in abbreviated form much of that part of the learning of antiquity that Christians thought worth preserving. Etymologies, often very far-fetched, form the subject of just one of the encyclopedia's twenty books (Book X), but perceived linguistic similarities permeate the work. An idea of the quality of Isidore's etymological knowledge is given by Peter Jones: "Now we know most of his derivations are total nonsense (eg, he derives baculus, 'walking-stick', from Bacchus, god of drink, because you need one to walk straight after sinking a few)".
Isidore's vast encyclopedia of ancient learning includes subjects from theology to furniture, and provided a rich source of classical lore and learning for medieval writers. In his works including the Etymologiae, Isidore quotes from around 475 works from over 200 authors. Bishop Braulio, to whom Isidore dedicated it and sent it for correction, divided it into its twenty books.