The Medieval World of Isidore of Seville
Truth from Words

A full reading of St Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae and all Latin, including etymologies, is translated.

John Henderson (Author)

9780521867405, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 February 2007

246 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.53 kg

"...not only offers an important contribution to scholarship on Isidore, but shows how classicists can and should expand the borders of Latin studies into new fields and methods." --BMCR

In his Etymologiae, St Isidore of Seville put together a systematic survey of the world in the form of a vast thesaurus of Latin vocabulary, which supplies a more or less accepted or fanciful etymology for each term. It became one of the most influential books of European culture through the whole medieval period. This Latin 'Roget' is traditionally used as a reference work, accessed through an elaborate index system. In this book Professor Henderson, the most challenging critic writing on Latin literature and Roman culture, presents a full reading of all twenty books of the Etymologiae, showing how the material is sequenced so that its reader is treated to a thoroughgoing education in the world as it was apprehended in Jewish, Graeco-Roman and Christian culture. All Latin, including etymologies, is translated.

List of figures
Preface: when it's ajar
Introduction
Part I. Preliminaries: 1. Prefatory correspondence and dedication
2. Index and referencing system
3. Conclusion
Part II. Reading the Etymologiae
Section 1. Primary Education: 4. Proem: seven at one blow
5. Grammar: the alphabet
6. Grammar proper
7. Rhetoric
8. Dialectic or rationalist philosophy
Section 2. Secondary Education: 9. Arithmetic
10. Geometry
11. Music
12. Astronomy
13. Medicine
14. Law and history
15. Scripture and Christian duties
16. God, the angels, the saints
17. Church, schism, paganism
18. Languages, populations, societies
19. Epithets: a thesaurus
20. Mankind and monsters
21. Living creatures
22. World survey (water)
23. Earth survey (land)
24. Building, town, and country
25. Rocks and metals
26. Agriculture and botany
27. War and recreation
28. Ships, construction and decoration, clothing
29. Food and drink, packaging and transport, tools and harness
Conclusion: after words
Appendix
Bibliography
Index locorum
Etymologies
General index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]