The Etymologies III.xiv.4xvii.
3 95
than 9, for 8 is a cube (cubus) or a solid, that is, it is a
body of which one can find no more, but 9 is a plane
(superficies), that is, it is a thing that is not filled out;
rather, it lacks perfection. 4. Here two cubes, that is,
two solidities, are found in this manner. The number
six is the first perfect number (see v.11 above); for it
is divisible into equal numbers, so: divide by one, six
parts; into three parts by two three twos are six; in
half, that is three two times, is six. You will find another
Music (De musica)
xiv. Music and its name (De musica et eius nomine)17
1. Music (musica) is the practical knowledge of modula-
tion (modulatio) and consists of sound and song. Music
is so called through derivation from the word Muse, for
the Muses (Musae) were named from !"#$%, that is, from
seeking,18 because it was through them, as the ancients
would have it, that the power of song and the modula-
tion of the voice were sought. 2. Their sound, because
it is something perceived by the senses, vanishes as the
moment passes and is imprinted in the memory. Whence
came the invention of the poets that the Muses are the
daughters of Jupiter and Memory, for unless sounds are
held by the memory of man, they perish, because they
cannot be written down.
xv. The inventors of music (De inventoribus eius) 1.
Moses says that Tubal, who was of the stock of Cain
before the Flood, was the discoverer of the musical art.
But the Greeks say that Pythagoras discovered the ele-
ments of this art from the sound of hammers and from
the striking of taut strings. Others hand down the story
that Linus the Theban and Zetus and Amphion were
the first to become famous in the musical art. 2. After
them, little by little, this discipline especially was regu-
16 This sentence and the remainder of this chapter are obscure
and probably scribally corrupt.
17 Several early manuscripts present elaborate figures, of obscure
meaning, illustrating various mathematical principles of music.
Examples may be found in Lindsays edition, and in Fontaine (1959:
following p. 450). Presumably because his work is incomplete, Isidore
does not discuss these in his text.
18 The reading !"#$% is uncertain. Compare !&#%', searching,
proposed by Cornutus (first century ce) as the etymon of Muse.
perfect number that you may divide by equal numbers
in this way, which accords with the preceding instance.
5. Within the first numeric order, that is, within 10, on
account of its being the first perfect number, multiplying
with the first turn sixes nine times gives 54; nines six
times, 54.16 The material makes so many parts and it is
known to have had so many parts not without reason,
by twos, and from this it has one in an order such as
this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 8 and other numbers, including 27.]
lated and augmented in many ways, and it became as
shameful to be ignorant of music as it was shameful
not to be able to read and write. Moreover, music was
introduced not only in sacred rites, but also in all cel-
ebrations, and in all joyful or sorrowful occasions. 3.
Just as hymns were sung in veneration of the gods, there
were also hymns to Hymen for weddings, dirges and
laments at funerals, all accompanied by the flute. At ban-
quets, a lyre or cithara was passed around, and a convivial
type of song was performed by each reclining diner in
turn.
xvi. The power of music (Quid possit musica) 1. So it
is that without music, no other discipline can be per-
fected, for nothing is without music. Indeed, it is said
that the universe itself is composed from a certain har-
mony of sounds, and that the very heavens turn to the
modulations of harmony. Music rouses emotions, and
it calls the senses to a different state. 2. In battle, too,
the sounding of the trumpet inflames the fighters, and
the more ardent its blast, the braver grows the spirit
for the contest. Since song urges even rowers on, music
also soothes the spirit so that it can endure toil, and the
modulation of the voice eases exhaustion from individ-
ual labors. 3. Music also calms excited spirits, just as one
reads about David, who rescued Saul from the unclean
spirit by the art of modulation. Music calls forth the very
beasts to listen to its modulation, even serpents, birds,
and dolphins. But further, however we speak, or how-
ever we are moved by the internal pulsing of our veins
these things are demonstrably linked, through their
musical rhythms, to the power of harmony.
96 III.xviii.1xx.12 Isidore of Seville
xvii. The three parts of music (De tribus partibus
musicae) 1. Music has three parts, that is, the harmonic
(harmonicus), the rhythmic (rhythmicus), and the metric
(metricus). The harmonic part is that which differenti-
ates high and low sounds. The rhythmic part inquires
about the impact of words, whether the sound agrees
well or badly. 2. The metrical part is that which recog-
nizes, by means of a demonstrable system, the measure
of different meters, as for example the heroic, the iambic,
the elegiac, and so on.
xviii. The threefold division of music (De triformi
musicae divisione) 1. It is accepted that all sound, which
is the material of song, has three forms by its nature.
The first division is the harmonicus, which consists of
vocal song. The second division is the organicus, which is
composed of blowing. The third is the rhythmic (rhyth-
micus), which takes its measures from the plucking of
fingers. 2. For sound is emitted either by the voice, as
through the throat, or by blowing, as through a trum-
pet or a flute, or by plucking,19 as with the cithara, or
any other sort of instrument that is melodious when
plucked.
xix. The first division of music, which is called har-
monic (De prima divisione musicae quae harmonica
dicitur) 1. The first division of music, which is called
harmonic (harmonicus), that is, the modulation of the
voice, pertains to comedies, tragedies, or choruses, or to
all who sing with their own voice. This makes a move-
ment that comes from the mind and body together, and
the movement produces a sound, and from this is formed
the music that in humans is called voice (vox). 2. Voice
(vox) is air beaten (verberare) by breath, and from this
also words (verbum) are named. Properly, voice is a
human characteristic, or a characteristic of unreason-
ing animals. But in some cases, with incorrect usage and
improperly, a sound is called a voice, as for example
the voice of the trumpet bellowed, and (Vergil, Aen.
3.556):
. . . and voices broken on the shore.
For the word proper to rocks on the shore is sound
(sonare). Also, (Vergil, Aen. 9.503):
But the trumpet far off (made) a terrible sound with its
sonorous brass.
Harmonics (harmonica) is the modulation of the
voice and the bringing of many sounds into agreement,
or fitting them together. 3. Symphony (symphonia) is the
blend of modulation made from low and high sounds
in agreement with one another, either in voice, or blow-
ing, or plucking. Through symphony, higher and lower
voices are brought into harmony, so that whoever makes
a dissonant sound offends the senses of the one hear-
ing it. The opposite of symphony is diaphony (diapho-
nia), that is, when voices are discrepant, or dissonant.
4. Euphony (euphonia) is sweetness of voice. This word
and melody (melos) take their names from sweetness
and honey (mel). 5. Diastema (diastema) is the appropri-
ate vocal interval between two or more sounds. 6. Diesis
(diesis) refers to certain intervals that lead the modula-
tion downward, and moving downward from one sound
into another. 7. Tone (tonus) is the high enunciation of
the voice. A tone (i.e. a modal scale) is also the varia-
tion and quantity of a mode (harmonia) which consists
of vocal accent and tenor. Musicians have divided the
tones into fifteen kinds, of which the hyperlydian (i.e.
hypolydian) is the last and highest, and the hypodorian
is the lowest of all.
8. A song (cantus) is the voice changing pitch, for
sound is even-pitched; and sound precedes song. 9. Arsis
(arsis) is elevation of the voice, that is, the beginning.
Thesis (thesis) is lowering the voice, that is, the end. 10.
Sweet (suavis) voices are refined and compact, distinct
and high. Clear (perspicuus) voices are those that are
drawn out further, so that they continually fill whole
spaces, like the blaring of trumpets. 11. Delicate (sub-
tilis) voices are those that have no breath, like the voices
of infants, women, and sick people, and like plucking
on strings. Indeed, the most delicate are the strings of
musical instruments, which emit light, refined sounds.
12. Voices are rich (pinguis) when a great deal of breath
is sent forth all at once, like the voices of men. A high
(acutus) voice is light, and elevated, just as we see in the
strings of musical instruments. A hard (durus) voice is
one that emits sounds violently, like thunder, or like the
sound of the anvil, when the hammer strikes on the hard
iron.
19 Latin speaks of plucking stringed instruments as striking (per-
cutere, ppl. percussus) the strings; hence such instruments are classed
with the percussions. Organicus can mean instrumental in general,
but here it obviously refers specifically to wind instruments.
 The Etymologies
13. A harsh (asperus) voice is hoarse, and uttered with
brief irregular beats. A blind (caecus) voice is one that
stops short as soon as it is emitted, and being stifled is
not prolonged any further, like the sound of clay utensils.
A charming (vinnolus) voice is soft and flexible; and it
is so named from vinnus, that is, softly modulated. 14.
A perfect (perfectus) voice is high, sweet, and distinct:
high, so that it can reach the high range; distinct, so that
it fills the ears; sweet, so that it soothes the spirits of the
listeners. If a voice lacks any of these qualities, it is not
perfect.
xx. The second division, which is called organicus (De
secunda divisione, quae organica dicitur) 1. The sec-
ond division is organicus, and it is produced by those
instruments that, when they are filled with the breath
that is blown into them, are animated with the sound
of a voice, like trumpets, reed pipes, pipes, organs, pan-
doria,20 and instruments similar to these. 2. Organum is
the general word for all musical instruments. The Greeks
call that instrument to which bellows are attached by a
different name (i.e. ()*$+,-'), but to call it an organ
(organum) is rather the common usage of the Greeks.
3. The trumpet (tuba) was invented first by the Etr-
uscans, about which Vergil says (Aen. 8.526):
And the Etruscan blaring of the trumpets (tuba)
bellowed through the air.
Trumpets were employed not only for battles, but also
for all festive days, thanks to their clarity in praise or joy.
For this reason, the Psalter says (cf. Psalm 80:4, Vulgate),
Sing with a trumpet (tuba) at the onset of the month, on
the noted day of your solemnity for it was commanded
for the Jews to sound a trumpet at the onset of the new
moon, and they do this even up to this day.
20 The pandorium or pandorius (see section 8 below) is usually
in Latin not a wind instrument (pan-pipes?) but a kind of lute, the
bandore.
21 The text has ablative Idi. This may be a corruption of Daphnis,
ablative Daphnide, the legendary Sicilian inventor of pastoral song
Alternatively, it may be a corruption of Idas; the shepherd Idas boasts,
in the second Eclogue (2831) of Calpurnius Siculus (the Sicilian),
that Silvanus introduced him to the fistula.
22 Isidore nods; he knows that .&' means light (see XV.ii.37,
etc.), and that vocal sound is ./01 in Greek (VIII.xi.87).
23 Here a symphonia a word used for several types of instru-
ments is a kind of flute, but a sambuca in classical Latin is a small
harp, and sambucus is the elder-tree.
III.xx.13xxii.2 97
4. People say that flutes (tibia) were invented in Phry-
gia. For a long time, they were used only at funeral rites,
and soon after at other sacred rites of the pagans. More-
over, people think that flutes were so named because at
first they were fashioned from the leg-bones (tibia) of
deer and the shin-bones of asses. Then, through incor-
rect usage, they began to be called by this name even
when they were not made of shin-bones or other bones.
Thus we also get flute player (tibicen), as if from tib-
iarum cantus (song of flutes).
5. Reed (calamus, i.e. the reed plant, and also a name
for a reed-pipe) is the particular name of a tree, and
comes from rousing (calere), that is, from pouring
forth voices. 6. Some people think that the fistula (lit.
pipe, also another name for a reed-pipe) was invented
by Mercury, and others by Faunus, whom the Greeks
call Pan. And not a few think that it was invented by
Idis, a shepherd from Agrigentum in Sicily.21 The fistula
is so named because it emits a voice, for voice is .2' in
Greek,22 and #34,%$ is the word meaning sent forth. 7.
Among musicians, the sambuca is a type of symphonia.23
It is made of the kind of fragile wood from which flutes
are constructed. 8. The pandorius took its name from its
inventor, and Vergil says (cf. Ecl. 2.32):
Pan was the first to teach joining many reeds together
with wax, Pan whose concern is the flock and the
keepers of the flock.
For among the pagans, Pan was the pastoral god, who
was the first to fit together reeds of different lengths for
the purpose of song, and he put them together with
diligent art.
xxi. The third division of music, which is called rhyth-
mic (De tertia divisione, quae rythmica nuncupatur)
1. The third division of music is called rhythmic (rhyth-
micus), and it pertains to strings and percussion. Dif-
ferent types of cithara belong to this division, and also
drums, cymbals, rattles, and bronze and silver vessels,
and others that when struck produce a sweet ringing
sound from the hardness of their metal, as well as other
instruments of this sort.
2. Tubal is reputed to have been the discoverer of
the cithara and the psaltery, as was mentioned above.
However, according to the opinion of the Greeks it is
believed that the use of the cithara was discovered by
Apollo. The shape of the cithara is said to have been
98 III.xxii.3xxiii.1 Isidore of Seville
similar to the human chest at first, so that song might
be brought forth from the cithara as the voice is brought
forth from the chest, and they say it was named for this
same reason. 3. For in the language of the Dorian Greeks
the chest is called 5%6"*$. Little by little, many types of
these instruments came into existence, such as psalter-
ies, lyres, barbitons, phoenices and pectides, and those
types called Indian, which are plucked by two perform-
ers at the same time. Some are made one way, and some
another, with either a four-sided or triangular shape. 4.
Indeed, the number of strings multiplied, and types were
changed as well. The ancients called the cithara fidicula
or fidicen,24 because the strings of this instrument agreed
together among themselves in the same way as happens
among those who have trust (fides). The cithara in antiq-
uity had seven strings. Whence it is said in Vergil (Aen.
6.646):
. . . the seven different notes.
5. Vergil speaks of differences because no string gives a
sound like that of the neighboring string. But there are
seven strings either because they fill out the entire vocal
range, or because heaven resonates with seven motions.
6. Strings (chorda) are so called from heart (cor, gen.
cordis) because the throbbing of the strings in the cithara
is like the throbbing of the heart in the chest. Mercury
contrived them first, and he was the first to pluck sound
from musical strings. 7. The psaltery (psalterium), which
is commonly called canticum (lit. song), takes its name
from singing to the psaltery (psallere), because the cho-
rus responds in harmony with the voice of the psaltery.
It has a characteristic shared with the foreign cithara,
being in the shape of the letter delta; but there is this
difference between the psaltery and the cithara, that the
psaltery has the hollowed wooden box from which the
sound resonates on its top side, so that the strings are
struck from underneath and resonate from above, but
the cithara has its wooden sound-box on the bottom.
The Hebrews used the ten-string psaltery on account of
the number of laws of the Decalogue.
8. The lyre (lyra) is so called from the word ,7*890
(i.e. speak frivolously), that is, from variety of voices,
because it renders diverse sounds. They say that the lyre
was first invented by Mercury in the following way. When
the Nile was receding into its channels, it left behind
various animals on the plains, and a tortoise was one
that was stranded. When it decomposed, and its ten-
dons remained stretched out in the shell, it made a
sound when Mercury plucked it. Mercury made a lyre
of this shape and handed it over to Orpheus, who was
by far its most zealous student. 9. Whence it is thought
that by his art he controlled not only wild beasts but
also the rocks and the woods by the modulation of his
song. On account of his love of musical pursuits and
praise of song, musicians have imagined, in the fic-
tions of their tales, his lyre as being located among the
stars.
The tympanum is a skin or hide stretched over one
end of a wooden frame. It is half of a symphonia (i.e.
another type of drum see section 14 below and cf. xxi.7
above), and looks like a sieve. 10. The tympanum is so
named because it is a half, whence the half-pearl is also
called a tympanum. Like the symphonia, it is struck with
a drumstick. 11. Cymbals (cymbalum) are certain vessels
that make a sound when they are struck by touching one
another. Cymbals are so called because they are struck
simultaneously when there is dancing (ballematia), for
the Greeks say #:0 for with and ;$," for dancing.
12. Sistrums (sistrum, i.e. a kind of metallic rattle) are
named after their inventor, for Isis, an Egyptian queen, is
thought to have invented this type of instrument. Juvenal
says (Satires 13.93):
May Isis strike my eyes with her angry sistrum.
Whence women play these instruments, because the
inventor of this type of instrument was a woman.
Whence also it is said that among the Amazons, the
army of women was summoned to battle by sistrums.
13. The tintinabulum takes its name from the sound of
its voice, just like the clapping (plaudere) of hands,
and the creaking (stridor) of hinges. 14. The sympho-
nia in common usage is the name for a hollow wood
instrument with hide stretched over both ends. Musi-
cians strike them on both sides with drumsticks, and
make a very melodious sound from the consonance of
the high and low pitches.
xxii. Musical numbers (De numeris musicis) 1. You
find numbers with respect to music in this way (see
viii.3 above). When the high and low numbers have
been set, as, for example, 6 and 12, you see by how
many units 6 is exceeded by 12, and that is by 6 units.
24 In classical Latin fidicen means lyre-player; the lyre was fides.
 The Etymologies
You make this number into a square, and 6 six times
makes 36. You add together the low and high numbers
that you first took, 6 and 12, and together they make
18. You divide 36 by 18, and it makes 2. You add this to
the low number, that is, 6, and it comes to 8. 8 is the
mean between 6 and 12. Wherefore 8 exceeds 6 by two
units, that is, a third of 6, and 8 is exceeded by 12 by
four units, a third of 12. Thus, the high number exceeds
Astronomy (De astronomia)
xxiv. The name of astronomy (De astronomiae
nomine) Astronomy (astronomia) is the law (cf. 04!-',
law) of the stars (aster), which, by investigative reason-
ing, touches on the courses of the constellations, and the
figures and positions of the stars relative to each other
and to the earth.
xxv. The inventors of astronomy (De inventoribus
eius) 1. The Egyptians were the first to discover
astronomy. However, the Chaldeans were the first to
teach astrology (astrologia) and observations concerning
nativities. But the author Josephus asserts that Abraham
instructed the Egyptians in astrology. The Greeks say
that this art was earlier conceived by Atlas, and that is
why he was said to have held up the sky. 2. Yet whoever
the inventor was, he was stirred by the movement of the
heavens and prompted by the reasoning of his mind, and
through the changing of the seasons, through the fixed
and defined courses of the stars, through the measured
expanses of their distances apart, he made observations
of certain dimensions and numbers. By defining and dis-
cerning these things, and weaving them into a system,
he invented astrology.
xxvi. Those who established astronomy (De institu-
toribus eius) In both languages, there are indeed vol-
umes that have been written by diverse writers about
astronomy. Among these writers, Ptolemy, the king of
Alexandria,25 is thought to excel among the Greeks, for
he established the canons whereby the courses of the
stars are discovered.
25 Isidore is confusing Claudius Ptolemy (second century ce) with
the Ptolemys who ruled Egypt.
26 An illustration may have been planned at this point.
III.xxiii.2xxx 99
the mean by the same proportion as the low number is
exceeded by the mean. 2. But just as this proportion in
the universe derives from the revolution of the spheres,
so even in the microcosm it has such power beyond
mere voice that no-one exists without its perfection
and lacking harmony. Indeed, by the perfection of
this same art of Music, meters are composed of
arsis and thesis, that is, by rising up and setting down.
xxvii. The difference between astronomy and astrol-
ogy (De differentia astronomiae et astrologiae) 1.
There is some difference between astronomy and astrol-
ogy. Astronomy concerns itself with the turning of the
heavens, the rising, setting, and motion of the stars, and
where the constellations get their names. But astrology
is partly natural, and partly superstitious. 2. It is natu-
ral as long as it investigates the courses of the sun and
the moon, or the specific positions of the stars accord-
ing to the seasons; but it is a superstitious belief that
the astrologers (mathematicus) follow when they prac-
tice augury by the stars, or when they associate the twelve
signs of the zodiac with specific parts of the soul or body,
or when they attempt to predict the nativities and char-
acters of people by the motion of the stars.
xxviii. Astronomical reckoning (De astronomiae
ratione) There are several kinds of astronomical reck-
oning. Indeed, it defines what the world is; what the heav-
ens are; what is the position and course of the sphere;
what is the axis of the heavens and the pole; what are the
zones of the heavens; what are the courses of the sun and
the moon and the stars, and so on.
xxix. The world and its name (De mundo et eius
nomine) The world (mundus) is that which consists
of the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all of the stars.
The world is so named, because is it always in motion
(motus), for no rest is granted to its elements.
xxx. The shape of the world (De forma mundi) The
shape of the world is shown in this way.26 Just as the world
is raised up toward the northern region, so it declines
toward the south. Its head and its face, as it were, is