Isidor von Sevilla war Nachfolger seines Bruders Leander im Amt des Bischofs von Sevilla. In seiner Enzyklopädie Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX kompilierte er das im Westen des Mittelmeerraums um 600 noch vorhandene Wissen der Antike , verband es mit der Patristik und machte es seiner Zeit verfügbar. Isidor gehörte zu den meistgelesenen Autoren des Mittelalters. Wikipedia
“Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear.”
Litterae autem sunt indices rerum, signa verborum, quibus tanta vis est, ut nobis dicta absentium sine voce loquantur. Verba enim per oculos non per aures introducunt.
Isidore of Seville buch Etymologiae
Bk. 1, ch. 3, sect. 1; p. 96.
Etymologiae
“Many creatures go through a natural change and by decay pass into different forms, as bees [are formed] by the decaying flesh of calves, as beetles from horses, locusts from mules, scorpions from crabs.”
Siquidem et per naturam pleraque mutationem recipiunt, et corrupta in diversas species transformantur; sicut de vitulorum carnibus putridis apes, sicut de equis scarabei, de mulis locustae, de cancris scorpiones.
Isidore of Seville buch Etymologiae
Bk. 11, ch. 4, sect. 3; p. 221.
Etymologiae
“And without music there can be no perfect knowledge, for there is nothing without it. For even the universe itself is said to have been put together with a certain harmony of sounds, and the very heavens revolve under the guidance of harmony.”
Itaque sine Musica nulla disciplina potest esse perfecta, nihil enim sine illa. Nam et ipse mundus quadam harmonia sonorum fertur esse conpositus, et coelum ipsud sub harmoniae modulatione revolvi.
Isidore of Seville buch Etymologiae
Bk. 3, ch. 17, sect. 1; p. 137.
Etymologiae
