Starting in on Isidore's Etymologies; already worth it, the preface translates this bibliographic poem, perhaps written on the walls of the cathedral library in Seville

"Discipline" v. "art"

Will add excerpts to this thread as I find them noteworthy

Yes I am planning to read a 7th century encyclopedia cover to cover why do you ask

Nouns are so called because they make things known (hey, it works in English too!)

Verbs... reverberate? Ok

Manuscript notations explained

Etymologies and their limitations

Nearing the end of book I of XX; the etymology of "prose"

And of "meter" (measured); "verse" (inverted); "song [carmen]" (bc the singers are crazy?)

Moving on to poetic meters, Isidore insists the Hebrews were first in many of them: Moses invented heroic meter, David the hymn, Solomon the epithalamium, Jeremiah the threnody.

Book I closes by distinguishing fable & history. This closes out the topic of "grammar"

Book II is rhetoric and dialectic. Here's a taxonomy of law. Btw I'm up to page 74 of 406

"Dialectic and rhetoric are like the clenched fist and the open palm"

The rest of Book II summarizes various philosophical texts, eg Porphyry, Aristotle's Categories and De interpretatione. "When he was writing De interpretatione, Aristotle dipped his own into his mind."

Into book III. Not sure I totally follow the connection between geometry & the Nile river flooding. (Unsurprisingly, book III is the least exciting so far; it's basically a mathematics primer for 12 year olds.)

The etymology of music. "Unless sounds are held by the memory of man, they perish, because they cannot be written down"

"So it is that without music, no other discipline can be perfected. Indeed, it is said that the universe itself is composed from a certain harmony of sounds"

On to the last of the liberal arts, astronomy. The etymology for "heaven" doesn't work in English at all. That for "sky" kind of does- "sky"~"scape"

Whoa

Book IV on medicine mildly interesting throughout but rarely noteworthy; the conclusion is intriguing though: medicine is second philosophy (I don't buy it, ftr)

And into Book V: jurisprudence, laws, customs; natural, civil, of-nations, etc.

Laws, resolutions, decrees, edicts, responses. Obviously he's getting this from republican Rome but the that's 650 years out of date, giving these passages a rather piquant flavor

Wish we did this instead of calling them "omnibuses"

"Have you seen what they tacked onto the satire bill at the last minute?!" &c

Some fascinating wordplay around the property law, and intertwining of legal and moral concepts. Was not expecting "Whoever is held by greed is the possessed, not the possessor"!

That's it for tonight

Legal instruments, property, crimes, punishments...
- "slave"~"save" works in English too, kind of
- "the sword understands" is striking, I wonder if it's an artifact of translation

From laws we transition into... timekeeping! Still in Book V

First part of Book VI summarizes the Bible; second part goes into library science, including this advice re: interior decorating

"codex"~"trunk" doesn't work in English; "volume"~"[re]volve" does. And apparently is endorsed by modern-day etymologists!

Now into the liturgical calendar. Isidore is usually happy to embrace multiple incommensurable etymologies, so it's interesting that he explicitly rejects the "pascha"~"paschein [=suffering]" derivation. Is there a theological point being made here?

Book VII. "Theos"~"phobos"

Prophets, bards, seers

7 varieties of prophecy: ecstasy, vision, dream, cloud, voice, oracle, inspiration

3 varieties of vision: bodily senses, imagination, insight

Book VIII: the Church and sects

The definition of "faith'. Checkmate analytics (cc: @SalisburyJohnof)

Similarity, simulation, and the origins of idol-worship

Mercury, the Mediator

Book IX: languages, nations, reigns, military, citizens, families

This description of the sounds different languages make is, well, not wrong

A lot going on here. Gotta love how confident he is that angels do not speak and that, at the end of time, neither will we.

Why why why would you translate "rex" in this paragraph as "king" instead of "ruler"??? Use "ruler" and all the etymologies make sense!

Tyrants are strongmen; kings (rulers) are based

Duke = ductor, as in conductor. Guess I should've realized that earlier