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The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville

£46.99

  • Date Published: April 2010
  • availability: Available
  • format: Paperback
  • isbn: 9780521145916

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About the Authors
  • This work is a 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 thousands 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.

    • A complete English translation of what was the most important encyclopedic text of the Middle Ages
    • Provides a comprehensive introduction and notes in order to guide the reader through the text
    • Unlocks a core text in the history of culture
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    Reviews & endorsements

    'This extraordinary mix of encyclopaedia and dictionary must be the most historically important work never to have been translated into English until this fine collaborative work.' Spectator

    '… with this publication, the whole extraordinary compendium is available to Third Millennium man for the first time ever in equally simple English … [and] glorious contents.' Sunday Telegraph

    '… an accurate, literal translation, which contributes significantly to the field of Isidorian studies.' BMCR

    'The translation is accurate, the book well produced, and misprints or factual errors are very few indeed.' Rolando Ferri, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

    '… we should be delighted that this collaboration has been published by such a distinguished press. The book as a whole is an irreproachable work of translation … all interested in the study of the Middle Ages may certainly rejoice at this important contribution.' Ana-Isabel Magallon, The Medieval Review

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    Product details

    • Date Published: April 2010
    • format: Paperback
    • isbn: 9780521145916
    • length: 490 pages
    • dimensions: 246 x 191 x 23 mm
    • weight: 1.03kg
    • availability: Available
  • Table of Contents

    Introduction
    Correspondence of Isidore and Braulio
    The Etymologies: I: Grammar and its parts
    II. Rhetoric and dialectic
    III. Mathematics, whose parts are arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy
    IV. Medicine
    V. Laws and the instruments of the judiciary, and chronology
    VI. The order of scripture, cycles and canons, liturgical feasts and offices
    VII. Gods and angels, prophetic nomenclature, names of the holy fathers, martyrs, clerics, monks, and other names
    VIII. Church and synagogue, religion and faith, heresies, philosophers, poets, sibyls, magicians, pagans, gods of the gentiles
    IX. Languages of the nations, royal, military, and civic terminology, family relationships
    X. Certain terms in alphabetical order
    XI. Human beings and their parts, the ages of humans, portents and metamorphoses
    XII. Four-footed animals, creeping animals, fish, and flying animals
    XIII. Elements, that is, the heavens and the air, waters, the sea, rivers and floods
    XIV. Earth, paradise, the regions of the whole globe, islands, mountains, other terms for places, and the lower regions of the earth
    XV. Cities, urban and rural buildings, fields, boundaries and measures of fields, roads
    XVI. Earthly materials from land and water, every kind of gem and precious stones, ivory likewise, treated along with marble, glass, all the metals, weights and measures
    XVII. Agriculture, crops of every kind, vines and trees of every kind, herbs and all vegetables
    XVIII. Wars and triumphs and the instruments of war, the forum, spectacles, games of chance and ball games
    XIX. Ships, ropes, and nets, iron workers, the construction of walls and all the implements of building, also wool-working, ornaments, and all kinds of clothing
    XX. Tables, foodstuffs, drink, and their vessels, vessels for wine, water, and oil, vessels of cooks, bakers, and lamps, beds, chairs, vehicles, rural and garden implements, equestrian equipment.

  • Editors and translators

    Stephen A. Barney, University of California, Irvine
    Stephen A. Barney is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine. He edited and annotated Chaucer's Troilus for The Riverside Chaucer (1987) and also as a Norton Critical Edition (2006). He is also the author of The Penn Commentary on 'Piers Plowman', Volume 5 (2006).

    W. J. Lewis
    W. J. Lewis is a translator and editor. Her previous translations include two works by Galen: Hippocrates on the Nature of Man and On the Elements According to Hippocrates and she co-translated On the Properties of Discourse: A Translation of Tractatus de Proprietatibus Sermonum with Stephen Barney, Calvin Normore and Terence Parsons (1997).

    J. A. Beach, California State University, San Marcos
    Jennifer Beach is an independent classics scholar and senior documenter for a software engineering company. She worked for several years at the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae and continues to explore the relationship between classics and computer technology.

    Oliver Berghof, California State University, San Marcos
    Oliver Berghof is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at California State University, San Marcos, and Lecturer in Humanities at the University of California, Irvine. His previous publications include Georg Forster: A Voyage Round the World (edited with Nicholas Thomas, 2000).

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