Texts
Etymologiae (Isidore of Seville)
Incoming data
Learned encyclopedic work by Isidore, archbishop of Seville (d. 636), towards the end of his life.
Manuscript witnesses
MS
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, MS 417
rubric: Incipit de astronomia incipit: Astronomia est astrorum est quae cursus siderum et figuras et habitudines stellarum circa se et circa terram indagabili ratione percurrit Excerpts from Isidore, De astronomia.
f. 34r–
MS
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct. F. 4. 32/ff. 19-36
incipit: Numeri linialis Paragraph on numbers (3.7.3–6).
f. 20r.1–
MS
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 3182
rubric: Essiodorus in libro Aethimologiarum ait Excerpts.
p. 177–
MS
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 3182
rubric: De differentia agnatorum et cognatorum in tribu. In libris Ethimologiarum Excerpts from 9.6 and 9.5.
p. 178
MS
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 4126
rubric: De primis autoribus, sive scriptoribus historiarum Extracts from books 1, 5 and 6.
f. 133vb
MS
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 1399a.1
Book XI I 43-36 and 51-53
MS
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Reg. lat. 846/ff. 99-114
Extract from Isidore's Etymologiae: ‘De orthographia’.
f. 108v–
Sources
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
[tr.] Barney, Stephen A., W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof, The etymologies of Isidore of Seville, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
abstract:
This work is the first complete English translation of the Latin Etymologies of Isidore, bishop of Seville (c. 560–636). Isidore compiled the work between c. 615 and the early 630s and it takes the form of an encyclopedia, arranged by subject matter. It contains much lore of the late classical world beginning with the Seven Liberal Arts, including Rhetoric, and touches on hundreds of topics ranging from the names of God, the terminology of the law, the technologies of fabrics, ships, and agriculture, to the names of cities and rivers, the theatrical arts, and cooking utensils. Isidore provides etymologies for most of the terms he explains, finding in the causes of words the underlying key to their meaning. This book offers a highly readable translation of the twenty books of the Etymologies, one of the most widely known texts for a thousand years from Isidore’s time.
(source: publisher)
Secondary sources (select)
Bischoff, Bernhard, “Die europäische Verbreitung der Werke Isidors von Sevilla”, in: Manuel C. Díaz y Díaz (ed.), Isidoriana: Colección de estudios sobre Isidoro de Sevilla, León: Centro de Estudios San Isidoro, 1961. 317–344.
Internet Archive: <link>
