Etymologiae quaedam ad lectionem pertinentium.
What a Book Is Called
Isidore explains the origins of the words codex, volume, liber, and scheda, and notes where papyrus was first used.
A codex is a collection of many books; a single book is one volume. And the term codex is used by metaphorical transfer from the trunks of trees or vines — as though a 'caudex' — because it holds together a multitude of books as if they were branches. A volume gets its name from 'rolling' (volvendo). A liber is the inner bark of a tree, on which the ancients used to write before the use of papyrus or parchment. From this, too, they used to call book-copyists 'librarios,' and from that source the term liber volumen came to be used. Scheda — whose diminutive is schedula — is a Greek word. And a scheda is properly called that which is still being corrected and has not yet been worked into finished books. The use of papyrus sheets was first discovered at Memphis, a city of Egypt.
Parchment and the Forms of Writing
The origins of parchment and membrane are given, followed by brief definitions of the homily, treatise, dialogue, and discourse.
It's called charta (a papyrus sheet) because the pith of the papyrus is stripped off in pieces, glued together, and so a sheet is made — and there are several kinds of it. Parchment gets its name from Pergamum, where it was first discovered. It's also called membrana ('membrane') because it's stripped from the limbs of animals. At first membranes were yellowish in color; later, white ones were found at Rome. A homily is, so to speak, an address to the people — like a sermon delivered to a congregation. A treatise is a detailed treatment of a single subject. A dialogue is a discussion between two or more people — what the Latins call a sermo. And sermo ('discourse') gets its name because it's woven between both parties.
Commentary and Gloss
Isidore defines commentaries, distinguishes pagan from divine exposition, and explains the gloss and the adverb.
Commentaries get their name, as it were, from 'with mind' — or from the verb comminiscor. For there are interpretations — such as the commentaries on the law or on the gospel. Some say that the commentaries on pagan books should be called 'commenta,' but the expositors of divine writings 'expositores.' A gloss is Greek and is rendered in the vernacular, because in a way it expresses the meaning of the underlying word. Philosophers call this an adverb because it designates with a single, specific word the voice concerning the matter being asked about — for example, 'to fall silent' is 'to be silent.'
Read the original Latin
Codex multorum librorum est, liber unius voluminis. et dictus codex per translationem a codicibus arborum seu vitium, quasi caudex, quod ex se multitudinem librorum quasi ramorum contineat. volumen dicitur a volvendo. liber est interior cortex arboris, in quo antiqui ante usum chartae vel membranarum scribere solebant. unde et scriptores librarios vocabant, inde dictus est liber volumen. scheda, cuius diminutivum est schedula, Graecum nomen est. et dicitur scheda proprie quod adhuc emendatur, et necdum in libris redactum est. chartarum usus primum apud Memphim, civitatem Aegypti, inventus est.
dicta autem charta, quod carptim papyri tegmen decerptum glutinatur, et sic charta conficitur, cuius genera plura sunt. pergamenum dicitur a Pergamis, ubi inventum est. dicitur etiam membrana, quia ex membris pecudum detrahuntur. fiebant autem primum membrana lutei coloris, postea Romae candida membrana reperta sunt. homilia dicitur quasi sermo popularis, sicut ubi verbum fit ad populum. tractatus est unius rei multiplex expositio. dialogus est collatio duorum vel plurimorum quem Latini sermonem dicunt. sermo autem dictus, quia seritur inter utrumque.
commentaria dicta quasi cum mente, vel a comminiscor. sunt enim interpretationes, ut commentaria juris vel evangelii. dicunt quidam commenta appellanda gentilium librorum, expositores autem divinorum. glossa Graecum est et interpretatur lingua, quia quodammodo loquitur significationem subiectae dictionis. hanc philosophi adverbium dicunt, quia vocem illam de cuius re quaeritur uno et singulari verbo designat, verbi gratia, ut conticescere est tacere.
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