Etymologies & Works 13

In this little book, as though on a certain brief tablet, we have noted down certain matters concerning the sky, the positions of lands, and the expanses of the sea, so that the reader may run through them in a small compass, and in compendious brevity may learn their etymologies and their causes. I. ON THE WORLD. The world (mundus) is the sky and the earth, the sea and the works of God in them. Of which it is said (John 1:10): 'And the world was made through Him.' The world is called 'mundus' in Latin by the philosophers because it is in everlasting motion, as are the sky, the sun, the moon, the air, and the seas. For no rest is granted to its elements, and therefore it is always in motion. Whence to Varro the elements too seem to be living things.

'Because,' he says, 'they are moved of themselves.' The Greeks, on the other hand, applied the name for the world from 'adornment', on account of the diversity of the elements and the beauty of the stars. For among them it is called 'kosmos', which signifies adornment. For we behold nothing more beautiful than the world with the eyes of the flesh. There are, moreover, four regions of the world, that is, quarters: the East and the West, the North and the South. The East (Oriens) is named from the rising (exortus) of the sun. The West (Occidens) is so called because it makes the day set (occidere) and perish. For it hides the light from the world and draws darkness over it. The North (Septentrio) is named from the seven stars of the axis, which turn revolving upon it. This is properly also called the pole (vertex), because it turns (vertitur), as the poet says (Virgil, Aeneid 2.250):

'Meanwhile the sky turns.' The South (Meridies) is so called either because there the sun makes the middle of the day, as if 'medidies' (mid-day), or because then the upper air shines more purely. For 'merum' means pure. There are two gates of the sky, the East and the West; for by the one gate the sun comes forth, by the other it withdraws itself. Moreover, there are two hinges (cardines) of the world, the North and the South; for upon these the sky revolves. II. ON ATOMS. Philosophers call 'atoms' certain parts of bodies in the world so exceedingly minute that they neither lie open to sight nor admit of 'tome', that is, division; whence too they are called 'atomoi'. These are said to fly about through the void of the whole world with restless motions and to be carried hither and thither, like the finest specks of dust that are seen scattered through windows by the rays of the sun.

From these, certain philosophers of the nations supposed, arise all trees and grasses and crops, from these are begotten and constituted fire and water and all things. But atoms exist either in body, or in time, or in number. In body, as a stone: you divide it into parts, and the parts themselves you divide into grains, such as grains of sand; and again divide the very grains of sand into the finest dust, until, if you can, you arrive at some minute particle which is no longer such as can be divided or cut. This is the atom in bodies. In time, however, the atom is understood thus. A year, for example, you divide into months, the months into days, the days into hours;

the parts of hours still admit of division, until you come to such a point of time and, as it were, a drop of a moment, that it cannot be extended through any least delay; and therefore it can no longer be divided. This is the atom of time. In numbers, as for instance eight is divided into four, again four into two, then two into one. But one is an atom, because it is indivisible. So too the letter: for you divide speech into words, words into syllables, the syllable into letters. The letter, the smallest part, is an atom, and cannot be divided. An atom, therefore, is that which cannot be divided, like the point in geometry. For 'tomos' in Greek means division, 'atomos' indivision. III. ON THE ELEMENTS.

The Greeks call 'hyle' a certain first matter of things, in no way at all formed, yet capable of all bodily forms, out of which these visible elements were shaped; whence too they received their name by derivation from it. This 'hyle' the Latins called 'materia' (matter), for this reason, that everything formless, out of which something is to be made, is always called matter. Accordingly the poets also named it 'silva' (forest/wood), and not incongruously, for the materials of forests are timber (materiae). But the Greeks call the elements 'stoicheia', because they agree with one another by a concord of fellowship and by a certain communion.

For they are said to be joined together among themselves by a certain natural principle, so that, now tracing their origin from fire down to earth, now from earth up to fire, fire indeed passes into air, air is condensed into water, water thickens into earth; and again earth is dissolved into water, water is rarefied into air, air is attenuated into fire. Wherefore all the elements are present in all, but each of them has received its name from that which it has in greater measure. They are, moreover, distributed by divine providence to their proper living creatures: for the Creator Himself filled the sky with angels, the air with birds, the sea with fishes, and the earth with men and the other living creatures. IV. ON THE SKY.

The sky (caelum) is so called because, like an engraved vessel (caelatum vas), it has the lights of the stars impressed upon it as though they were figures. For an engraved vessel is one that gleams with figures standing out in relief. For God set it apart with clear lights and filled it; that is, He adorned it with the sun and the shining orb of the moon and the resplendent figures of the twinkling stars. (Otherwise, from engraving the upper parts.) But this in Greek is called 'ouranos', 'apo tou orasthai', that is, from being seen, because the air is transparent and rather pure for gazing. But the sky in the Holy Scriptures is called the 'firmament' because it is made firm by the course of the stars and by fixed and settled laws. Sometimes too the sky is taken for the air, where winds and clouds and storms and whirlwinds arise. Lucretius (4.133):

'The sky, which is called air.' And the Psalm (79:2; 104:12) speaks of 'the birds of heaven', though it is manifest that birds fly in the air; and we too in common usage call this air 'heaven'. For when we inquire about clear or cloudy weather, we sometimes say, 'What is the air like?', sometimes, 'What is the sky like?' V. ON THE PARTS OF THE SKY. The aether is the place in which the stars are, and it signifies that fire which is separated on high from the whole world. Now the aether is that very element, while 'aethra' is the splendor of the aether, and it is a Greek word. The sphere of the sky is so called because its shape is formed into a round; but also whatever is such is called by the Greeks 'sphere', from its capacity to roll, like the balls with which children play.

For the philosophers say that the sky is convex on every side in the figure of a sphere, equal in all its parts, enclosing the earth poised in the middle mass of the world. This they say is moved, and that with its motion the stars fixed in it go round from east to west, while the northern ones complete shorter circuits near the pole. The axis is the straight line of the North, which extends through the middle ball of the sphere; and it is called 'axis' because the sphere is turned upon it like a wheel, or because there is the wagon (plaustrum). The hinges (cardines) are the extreme parts of the axis; and they are called 'cardines' because through them the sky is turned. The poles are the circles that run through the axis. Of these the one is the Northern, which never sets, and is called Boreal;

the other is the Southern, which is never seen, and is called Austronotius. And they are called 'poles' because they are the circles of the axes (axium cycli), from the use of wagons, being named, that is, from 'polishing' (poliendo). But the Boreal pole is always seen, the Austronotian never; because the parts on the right of the sky are higher, those of the south depressed. The 'convexa' are the extremities of the sky, so called from their curvature. For 'convexum' is something curved and inclined, and bent in the manner of a circle. The Milky Way (lacteus circulus) is a road that is seen in the sphere, named from its whiteness, because it is white. Some say it is the way by which the sun travels, and that from the passage of its brightness it so shines. VI. ON THE CIRCLES OF THE SKY.

This habitation of the sky, marked off by the circles into zones, has permitted certain regions to be inhabited by reason of their temperate climate, and has denied others by the excess of cold or of heat. Now the zones themselves are five, which are for this reason called 'zones' or 'circles', because they exist in the circular sweep of the sphere. Of these, the first circle is called 'arktikos' for this reason, that within it the constellations of the Bears (Arktoi) are seen enclosed, which by our people, being fashioned into the shape of she-bears, are called the Septentriones. The second circle is called 'therinos tropikos' (the summer tropic) because in that circle the sun, making summer in the regions of the North wind, does not pass beyond that circle but at once turns back; and thence it is called 'tropikos' (from turning).

The third circle is 'emerinos', which is for this reason called by the Latins the equinoctial (aequinoctialis), because the sun, when it reaches that orbit, makes the equinox. For 'emerinos' in Latin means day and night, and by this circle the half part of the sphere is seen to be established. The fourth circle is called 'antarktikos', because it is opposite to the circle which we name 'arktikos'. The fifth circle is 'cheimerinos tropikos', which by the Latins is called wintry (hiemalis) or brumal (brumalis), for this reason, that the sun, when it reaches that circle, makes winter for those who are toward the North, but summer for those who dwell in the parts of the South. The zodiac, moreover, is a circle É VII. ON AIR AND CLOUD. Air is an emptiness having very much rarity mixed into it, more than the other elements.

Of which Virgil says (Aeneid 12.354): 'Pursuing through the long void.' Air (aer) is so called 'apo tou airein', from the fact that it bears (ferat) the earth, or from the fact that it is borne (feratur). But it pertains partly to earthly, partly to celestial matter; for that subtle part, where windy and stormy motions cannot exist, pertains to the celestial region; but that more turbulent part, which takes on body through moist exhalations, is assigned to the earth; and it produces many kinds of things out of itself. For when stirred it makes winds; more violently roused, fires and thunder; contracted, clouds; thickened, rain; when the clouds freeze, snow; when denser clouds freeze more turbulently, hail; when spread out, it produces clear weather.

For dense air is cloud, and cloud rarefied and dissolved is air. Clouds (nubes) are so named from 'covering over' (obnubere), that is, veiling the sky; whence too brides (nuptae) are so called, because they veil their faces; whence too Neptune, because he covers over (nubat), that is, veils the sea and the land. Now the density of the air makes clouds. For the winds gather the air into a ball and make a cloud; whence comes that verse (Virgil, Aeneid 5.20): 'And the air is forced into a cloud.' VIII. ON THUNDER. Thunder (tonitruum) is so called because its sound (sonus) terrifies (terreat); for 'tonus' is a sound.

It sometimes shakes all things so gravely that the sky seems to have split apart, because, when a storm of most violent wind has suddenly hurled itself into the clouds, and the whirlwind grows strong and seeks a way out, it rends with great force the cloud which it has hollowed out, and thus with a dreadful crash it is carried down to our ears. At which no one ought to marvel, since even a little bladder, however small, nevertheless emits a great sound when burst. But together with the thunder the lightning-flashes too are given forth; yet the latter is seen more quickly, because it is bright, while the former reaches the ears more slowly. Now the light which appears before the thunder is called 'fulgetra' (lightning-flash). Which, as we have said, is for this reason seen beforehand, because the light is bright; but the thunder reaches the ears more slowly. IX. ON THUNDERBOLTS.

'Fulgur' (lightning) and 'fulmen' (thunderbolt), the stroke of a heavenly dart, are so named from 'striking' (ferire); for 'fulgere' is to strike and to smite. Now the collision of clouds produces the thunderbolt. For the collision of all things creates fire, as we see in stones, or in the friction of wheels, or in the trees of forests: in like manner fire arises in clouds, whence too there are first clouds, then fires. But thunderbolts are made in the clouds by wind and fire, and are sent forth by the driving force of the winds. And for this reason the fire of the thunderbolt has greater power for penetrating, because it is made of finer elements than ours, that is, than the fire that is in our use. It has, moreover, three names: 'fulgus', 'fulgor', and 'fulmen': 'fulgus', because it touches; 'fulgor', because it kindles and burns; 'fulmen', because it cleaves; and therefore they are also depicted with triple rays.

X. ON THE RAINBOW AND THE EFFECTS OF CLOUDS. The heavenly bow (arcus caelestis) is so called from its likeness to a bent bow. Iris is its proper name. And it is called 'iris' as though 'aeris' (of the air), that is, because it descends through the air to the lands. Now it gleams back from the sun, while hollow clouds opposite receive the sun's ray and fashion the appearance of a bow; and to it that same thing gives its various colors, because thin water, bright air, and darkening clouds, when irradiated, create these varied colors. Rains (pluviae) are so called because they flow (fluant), as if 'fluviae'; for they are born from the exhalation of the earth and the sea. When these have been raised on high, and are either dissolved by the heat of the sun, or compressed by the force of the winds, they are distilled upon the lands. A rain-cloud (nimbus) is a density of cloud, dark and stormy; and hence 'nimbus' from 'nubes' (cloud).

Now rain-clouds (nimbi) are sudden and headlong rains. For we call slow and continuous rains 'pluviae', as if 'fluviae', as if flowing (fluentes). But showers (imbres) pertain both to clouds and to rains, so named from a Greek word because they drench the earth (inebrient) for germinating. For from these all things are created, whence too Lucretius (1.715): 'From fire, earth, and air and rain are things born.' But it is a Greek name. Hail (grando) is so called because its form has the likeness of grains (grana). Now these are hardened by the stiffness of the winds in the cloud, and solidified into snow, and when the air is broken they are released. Snow (nix) comes from the cloud (nubes), whence it comes; and ice (glacies) from frost (gelu) and water (aqua), as if 'gelaquies', that is, frozen water (gelata aqua). But frost (gelus) is so called because by it the earth is bound fast (stringatur); for 'ge' indeed means earth.

Now the earth is bound fast by greater frost when the night has been clear. Hoar-frost (pruina) is the cold of the morning time, which received the name 'pruina' from this, that it burns like fire; for 'pur' means fire. For to burn (urere) pertains both to cold and to sun; for by one word two different things are signified, because they have one effect. For the power of heat and of cold is alike, whence both split stones. For heat burns, as it is (Virgil, Aeneid 4.68): 'Unhappy Dido burns.' Likewise cold burns, as it is (Virgil, Georgics 1.93): 'Or lest the penetrating cold of the north wind scorch.' Dew (ros) is Greek, which they call 'drosos'. Others think 'ros' is so called because it is sparse (rarus), and not thick like rain.

Mist (nebula) is so named, whence too clouds (nubila), from 'covering over' (obnubere), that is, veiling, the earth, or because a flying cloud produces it. For moist valleys exhale mists and clouds arise; thence cloudy weather, thence snows. But mists seek the depths when there is clear weather; the heights, when it is cloudy. Gloom (caligo) is a shadow made from the thickness of the air. And it is called 'caligo' because it is chiefly begotten by the heat (calor) of the air. Shadows are called 'tenebrae' because they hold (teneant) darkness. But shadows are nothing; rather, the very absence of light is called darkness; just as silence is not any thing, but where there is no sound, silence is spoken of; so darkness is not anything, but where there is no light, darkness is spoken of. A shadow (umbra) is air lacking the sun. And it is so called because it comes about when we are set against the rays of the sun.

Now it is mobile and uncertain, both from the circuit of the sun and from the motion of the winds. For as often as it is moved in the sun, it seems to move with us; because wherever, in whatever place, we stand against the rays of the sun, thereby we take away the light from it. So too the shadow seems to walk with us and to imitate our gestures. Light (lux) is the substance itself; radiance (lumen) is what flows from the light, that is, the brightness of light: but authors confound these. XI. ON THE WINDS. A wind (ventus) is air stirred and agitated, and it has obtained different names for the different quarters of the sky. It is called 'ventus' because it is vehement (vehemens) and violent (violentus). For its force is so great that it not only tears up rocks and trees, but even throws heaven and earth into confusion and stirs up the seas. There are four principal blasts of the winds.

Of these, the first blows from the east, Subsolanus; from the south, Auster; from the west, Favonius; from the north, a wind of the same name (Septentrio); each having twin blasts of winds on either side. Subsolanus has on its right side Vulturnus, on its left Eurus; Auster on the right Euroauster, on the left Austroafricus; Favonius on the right side Africus, on the left Corus; furthermore Septentrio on the right Circius, on the left Aquilo. These twelve winds drive round the globe of the world with their blasts. Their names are marked by their proper causes: for Subsolanus is so called because it is born beneath the rising of the sun (sub ortu solis); Eurus because it flows from 'eo', that is, from the east (oriens); for it is joined to Subsolanus; Vulturnus, because it thunders on high (alte tonat). Of which Lucretius (5.745):

'High-thundering Vulturnus and Auster mighty with the thunderbolt.' Auster is named from drawing up (auriendo) waters, whence too it makes the air thick and nourishes clouds. This in Greek is called 'notos', because it sometimes corrupts the air. For the pestilence which arises from corrupted air, Auster, blowing, transmits into the remaining regions; but as Auster begets pestilence, so Aquilo repels it. Euroauster is so called because on the one part it has Eurus, on the other Auster. Austroafricus, because it is joined on this side and that to Auster and Africus. It is also 'Libonotus', because Libs is on the one side of it and Notus on the other. (Favonius is so named because it fosters (foveat) the crops and flowers. This in Greek is Zephyrus, because it mostly blows in spring; whence comes that verse (Virgil, Georgics 1.44):

'And at the Zephyr's breath the crumbling clod loosens itself.') Zephyrus was named with a Greek name because by its blast the flowers and buds are given life. This in Latin is called Favonius, because it fosters (foveat) the things that are born. By Auster the flowers are dissolved, by Zephyr they come into being. Africus is named from its own region; for in Africa it takes the beginning of its blowing. Corus is that which blows from the summer west. And it is called Corus because it itself closes the circle of the winds, and, as it were, makes a chorus (chorum). This was formerly called Caurus, which very many call Argestes, not, as the ignorant crowd does, 'Agrestes'. Septentrio is so called because it rises by the circle of seven stars, which, as the world turns, seem to be borne with head thrown back. Circius is so called because it is joined to Corus.

The Spaniards call this the Gallic wind, because it blows to them from the direction of Gallaecia. Aquilo is so called because it binds fast (stringat) the waters and scatters the clouds; for it is a cold and dry wind. It is also Boreas, because it blows from the Hyperborean mountains; for from there is the origin of that same wind; whence too it is cold. For the nature of all northern winds is cold and dry, that of the southern moist and warm. But of all the winds two are cardinal: Septentrio and Auster. The Etesian winds are blasts of Aquilo, to which the name was given because at a fixed time of the year they begin to make their blast; for 'eniautos' in Greek means 'year' in Latin. These bear a straight course from Boreas into Egypt, to which Auster is contrary.

There are, moreover, besides these, two everywhere that are breezes rather than winds: 'aura' and 'altanus'. Aura is named from air (aer), as if 'aeria', because it is a gentle motion of the air. For agitated air makes a breeze (aura); whence too Lucretius (5.503): 'the airy breezes.' Altanus, which is on the open sea, is named by derivation from the deep (altum), that is, the sea. For there is another blast on the shores which we have called 'aura'; for 'aura' is of the land. A whirlwind (turbo) is the rolling of the winds; and it is called 'turbo' from the earth (terra), as often as a wind rises and casts the earth about in a circle. 'Tempestas' (weather/storm) is either said for time (tempus), as historians everywhere are wont, when they say 'at that season' (ea tempestate); or from the state (status) of the sky, because by its great magnitude it arises over many days.

In the spring and autumn seasons the greatest storms occur, when it is neither full summer nor full winter; whence storms are produced both in the middle and on the border of each season, from the conjunction of contrary airs. 'Fragor' (crash) is named from the sound of things broken (fractae), because it easily breaks whatever is dry and parched. 'Procella' (squall) from the fact that it strikes down (percellat), that is, smites and tears up; for it is the force of wind together with rain. For squalls are made either from thunderbolts or from winds. But nothing is swifter than the winds; whence too, on account of their swiftness, the poets depict both the winds and the thunderbolts as winged, as (Virgil, Aeneid 8.430): 'of the winged Auster.' XII. ON WATERS. Water (aqua) is so called because its surface is even (aequalis);

hence too the level surface (aequor) is so called, because it is level (aequaliter) above. Now the two most powerful elements of human life are fire and water; whence those to whom fire and water are forbidden are gravely condemned. The element of the waters holds command over all the rest. For the waters temper the sky, make fertile the earth, incorporate the air by their exhalations, mount up on high, and claim the sky for themselves. For what is more marvelous than waters standing in the sky? It would be too little to have reached so great a height; they also snatch up with themselves swarms of fishes; and when poured out they become the cause of all things that are born on the earth. They beget crops; they bring forth trees, shrubs, and grasses; they cleanse away filth, they wash off sins, they grant drink to all living things. XIII. ON THE DIVERSITY OF WATERS.

The diversity of the natures of waters is great: for some are of salt, some of niter, some of alum, some of sulphur, some of bitumen, and some apply a cure to diseases. For near Rome the Albulan waters heal wounds. In Italy the spring of Cicero cures wounds of the eyes. In Ethiopia there is a lake in which bodies bathed shine as if with oil. The spring of Zama in Africa makes voices tuneful. Those who drink from the Clitorian lake of Italy have a loathing for wine. On the island of Chios there is said to be a spring from which men become dull. In Boeotia there are two springs; the one brings memory, the other forgetfulness. The spring of Cyzicus takes away the love of Venus. There is a maddening lake of Boeotia, from which whoever has drunk blazes up with the ardor of lust.

In Campania there are waters which are said to abolish the barrenness of women and the madness of men. In the Red spring of Ethiopia whoever drinks becomes frenzied. The Leinus spring of Arcadia does not permit miscarriages to occur. In Sicily there are two springs, of which the one makes the barren fruitful, the other makes the fruitful barren. In Thessaly there are two rivers: sheep drinking from the one become black, from the other white, from both dappled. The Clitumnus lake in Umbria begets very large oxen. By the waters of the Reatine marsh the hooves of beasts of burden are hardened. In the Asphaltite lake of Judaea nothing can be submerged, whatever has breath. In the Indies there is a pool called Sida, in which nothing floats, but all things are submerged. But on the contrary, in the African lake Apuscidamus all things float, nothing is submerged.

The Marsidan spring in Phrygia throws up rocks. In Achaia water flows out from rocks, called Styx, which when drunk kills on the spot. The Gelonian pool of Sicily drives off those who draw near by its foul odor. There is a spring in Africa near the temple of Ammon which binds the ground fast with the bonds of moisture: it even solidifies embers into turf. The spring of Job in Idumaea is said to change color four times a year: that is, dusty, blood-red, green, and clear; holding one of these colors for three months in the year. Among the Trogodytes there is a lake; three times a day it becomes bitter and then as often sweet. The spring of Siloam at the foot of Mount Zion bubbles up not with continual waters, but at fixed hours and days. In Judaea there was once a stream that dried up every Sabbath.

In Sardinia the warm springs heal the eyes and convict thieves; for by blindness their crime is exposed. In Epirus there is said to be a spring in which lit torches are extinguished and extinguished ones are kindled. Among the Garamantes there is said to be a spring so cold by day that it cannot be drunk, so hot by night that it cannot be touched. And indeed in many places waters flow perpetually boiling, with such force that they heat baths. For there are certain lands that have much sulphur and alum. And so when cold water comes through hot channels, being touched by the neighboring heat of the sulphur it grows white-hot, and it does not flow out such from its source, but is changed as it comes. For the waters bear with them sulphur and alum; both materials are full of fire and grow warm with the least motions. XIV.

ON THE SEA. The sea (mare) is the general collection of waters. For every gathering of waters, whether they be salt or fresh, is by a loose usage called 'seas' (maria), according to that verse (Genesis 1:10): 'And the gatherings of the waters He called seas.' But properly the sea is called 'mare' because its waters are bitter (amarae). Now the level surface (aequor) is so called because it is level (aequaliter) above; and although the fluctuating waters rise up like mountains, yet when the storms are calmed they are again made level. For the depth of the sea is diverse, yet the levelness of its surface is undistinguished. The reason, moreover, that the sea does not take on increase, though it receives all rivers and all springs, is this: partly that its very magnitude does not feel the inflowing waves; and then, that the bitter water consumes the sweet stream;

Or it is because the clouds themselves draw much water to themselves; or because the winds carry part of it away while the sun dries part of it up; or, lastly, because it is filtered through certain hidden pores of the earth and, turned back to the source of the streams and to the springs, runs back again. The sea, moreover, has no fixed color, but changes according to the character of the winds; for at one time it is yellow, at another muddy, at another black. XV. ON THE OCEAN. The Greeks and Latins name it 'Ocean' because it encircles the globe in the fashion of a circle. (Or it is from swiftness, because it runs more quickly.) Likewise, because just as the sky gleams with a purple color, so the ocean is, as it were, KUANEOS (dark-blue). It is this that embraces the shores of the lands, and with alternating tides advances and recedes;

for when the winds breathe into the deep, the sea either vomits back or swallows down. And it has taken various names from the neighboring regions: as the Gallic, the Germanic, the Scythian, the Caspian, the Hyrcanian, the Atlantic, the Gaditanian. For the Gaditanian strait is named from Gades (Cadiz), where the threshold of the Great Sea first opens out from the Ocean; whence also Hercules, when he had come to Gades, set up pillars there, hoping that there lay the end of the world. XVI. ON THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. The Great Sea is that which flows from the Ocean in the west and inclines toward the south, and then stretches toward the north; it is called 'Great' because the other seas are smaller in comparison with it.

This same is also the Mediterranean, because it pours through the middle of the earth all the way to the east, dividing Europe, Africa, and Asia. The gulf of its first part, which pours through the Spains, is called the Iberian and the Balearic. Then the Gallic, which washes the province of Narbonne. Next the Ligurian, which is nearest beside the city of Genoa. After these the Tyrrhenian, which touches Italy; which the Greeks call the Ionian, the Italians the Lower Sea. Then the Sicilian, which runs from Sicily as far as Crete. Then the Cretan, which extends to Pamphylia and Egypt. Then the Hellespont, which, turning back toward the north, with great windings beside Greece and Illyricum, is drawn into a narrows of seven stadia;

through which Xerxes, having made a bridge with ships, crossed into Greece: there lies Abydos. Thence, spread out over an open expanse, it is again drawn narrow and forms the Propontis; which presently is confined within five hundred paces, and becomes the Thracian Bosphorus, through which Darius transported his forces. Thence the very broad Pontic gulf, behind it the marshes of the Maeotis; which sea, from the multitude of rivers, is sweeter than the others, and misty and shallower. Whence too it is called 'Pontus,' because it is passable; and there, apart from seals, tunny, and dolphins, it does not tolerate other larger beasts. But just as the earth, though it is one, is called by various names according to its different places, so also this great sea is called by various names according to the regions:

for the Iberian and the Asiatic are named from provinces; from islands come the Balearic, the Sicilian, the Cretan, the Cyprian, the Aegean, the Carpathian. For between Tenedos and Chios there is in the sea a rock rather than an island, which to those viewing it from afar is thought to resemble a she-goat, which the Greeks call AIGA, whence the Aegean Sea is named; so too the Carpathian Sea, between Egypt and Rhodes, from the island Carpathos situated there. From peoples come the Gallic, the Ausonian, the Dalmatian, the Ligurian. From towns, the Argolic, the Corinthian, the Tyrian, the Adriatic. For Adria was a certain city near the Illyrian sea, which gave its name to the Adriatic Sea. From the position of the sky, as the Upper and the Lower, because the east is higher and the west lower; and this is the Tuscan and the Adriatic.

From the memory of a king, as the Ionian. For Io was a king of Greece, whence the Athenians are called Ionians. This sea is also called the Tyrrhenian, either because it washes Tuscia, that is Tyrrhenia, or from the Tyrrhenian sailors, who hurled themselves into this sea. And it is to be known that the Ionian gulf is immense, from Ionia all the way to Sicily, and that its parts are the Adriatic, the Achaean, and the Epirotic. From the character of the inhabitants comes the Euxine, formerly called the Axine (inhospitable). From the misfortunes of men who fell into the sea, as the Hellespont, the Icarian, the Myrtoan. For the Myrtoan Sea is named from the fall of Myrtilus, because he was there hurled down by Oenomaus. But Icarus the Cretan, as the fables tell, seeking the higher regions, when his feathers were loosened by the heat of the sun, gave his name to the sea into which he fell.

Phrixus too, fleeing his stepmother's plots with his sister Helle, boarded a ship bearing the sign of a ram, by which he was delivered. But Helle, his sister, having suffered shipwreck, fell into the sea, and in death gave her name to the Sea of Helle (Hellespont). From the order of its flowing comes the Propontis. For it is called 'Propontus' because it comes before the Pontus. Likewise the Bosphorus, from the crossing or the narrow passages of oxen. The Egyptian sea, moreover, is assigned to Asia, the Gallic to Europe, the African to Libya: as each was nearest to these, so they came into their portions. The 'pelagus' (open sea) is the breadth of the sea without shore or harbor, named with a Greek name APO TOU PLAGIOU, that is, 'from breadth'; whence also 'plagia' (shores), because they are harborless. XVII. ON THE GULFS OF THE SEA.

'Gulfs' (sinus) are the larger recesses of the sea, as in the Great Sea the Ionian, and in the Ocean the Caspian, the Indian, the Persian, the Arabian—which is also the Red Sea, and which is reckoned to the Ocean. The Red Sea is so called because it is tinged with rosy waves; yet it does not have such a nature as it seems to display, but the flood is corrupted and stained by the neighboring shores; for all the land that stands around this sea is red and close to the color of blood. And therefore from there the finest vermilion is extracted, and the other colors with which painting is varied. Since, then, the earth has this nature, it is continually washed away by the waves, and whatever is eaten away falls into that color. For this reason also on these shores red gems are found.

For a pebble of this kind, wrapped in such soil, when it has been ground among the sands, has both the color of the earth and of the sea. This sea is split into two gulfs. Of these, the one that is toward the east is called the Persian, because the Persians inhabit its shore. The other is called the Arabian, because it is around Arabia. XVIII. ON TIDES AND STRAITS. The 'tide' (aestus) belongs to the Ocean, the 'strait' (fretus) to both seas. For the tide is the sea's advance or retreat, that is, its restlessness; whence also 'estuaries,' through which the sea alternately both advances and recedes. A 'strait' (fretum) is so called because there the sea always boils; for a strait is a narrow and, as it were, boiling sea, named from the boiling of the waves, like the Gaditanian or the Sicilian; for Varro (On the Latin Language

7,22) says they are called 'freta' as if 'fervida' (boiling), that is, 'ferventia' (seething), and having the motion of boiling. The Strait of Sicily, which is called Rhegium, Sallust writes is so called for the following reason, saying (Histories 4,26) that Sicily was once joined to Italy, and while it was one land, the intervening space was either overwhelmed by waters through its lowness, or torn apart through its narrowness. And thence it is named REGION, because in Greek what is broken off is called by this name. It is a very narrow space, three miles wide, dividing Sicily from Italy, ill-famed for fabulous monsters, where on this side and that Scylla and Charybdis are pointed out. The inhabitants call Scylla a rock overhanging the sea, resembling to those looking from afar the celebrated form.

Whence too the fables gave it a monstrous appearance, as if the form of a woman girt about with dogs' heads, because the waves dashing together there seem to express barkings. Charybdis is so called because it swallows down ships in hidden whirlpools; for it is a sea full of eddies, and thence the shipwrecks torn apart there emerge from the deep. Three times a day it raises up the waves, and three times it swallows them down; for it takes in the waters that it may vomit them, and vomits that it may take them in again. The 'Syrtes' are sandy places in the sea. Sallust (Jugurtha 78,3) says the Syrtes are named from 'dragging' (tractus), because they draw all things to themselves, and cling to one approaching over the shoaly sea. These, moreover, are near to the Egyptian sea, and are mingled with it alike.

'Fords' (vada), on the other hand, are places in the sea or in rivers where men or animals wade on foot, which Virgil (Aeneid 1,111) calls 'shallows' (brevia), and the Greeks BRACHEA. XIX. ON LAKES AND POOLS. There are also certain seas which are not mingled with the waves of the Ocean or of the Great Sea, and are called lakes and pools. A 'lake' (lacus) is a receptacle in which water is retained and not mingled with the waves, such as the Lake of Asphalt (the Dead Sea), such as Lake Benacus and Larius, and the others which the Greeks call LIMNAI, that is, pools. For springs glide down into rivers; rivers run out into straits; a lake stands in its place and does not flow forth. And it is called 'lacus' as if 'a place of water' (aquae locus). The Lake of Asphalt is also called the Dead Sea because it produces nothing living and receives nothing of the kind of living things.

For it has neither fish, nor does it suffer the birds that are accustomed to the waters and delight in the use of diving, but whatever living things you attempt to submerge, however sunk by any device, they at once leap back, and however violently dashed down, they are immediately cast up; nor is it moved by the winds, the bitumen resisting the whirlwinds, by which all the water is made stagnant, nor is it fit for navigation, because all things lacking life sink into the deep, nor does it support any material except what is coated with bitumen. They say that a lighted lamp floats upon it, but when the light is extinguished it sinks. This is also called the Sea of Salt, or the Lake of Asphalt, that is, of bitumen; and it is in Judaea between Jericho and Zoar.

Its length extends as far as Zoar of Arabia, seven hundred and eighty stadia; its breadth is a hundred and fifty stadia, reaching to the vicinity of Sodom. The Lake of Tiberias is named from the town of Tiberias, which Herod once founded in honor of Tiberius Caesar. It is, moreover, in Judaea more healthful than all lakes, and in a certain way more effective for the health of bodies. It has a circuit of a hundred stadia. The Lake of Gennesaret, a very vast lake in Judaea, extends a hundred and forty stadia in length, and spreads out forty in breadth, its waters rippling, generating for itself a breeze not from the winds, but of itself. Whence too it is called 'Gennesar' with a Greek word, as if 'generating a breeze for itself'; and so through its broader expanses the lake is stirred by frequently blowing breezes;

whence too its draught is purer, and sweet and suitable for drinking. Lake Benacus is a lake of Italy in Venetia, from which is born the river Mincius; which lake, by its greatness, imitates the storms of the sea. Lucrinus and Avernus are lakes of Campania. Lucrinus is so called because once, on account of its abundance of fish, it yielded great revenues. Avernus, moreover, is a lake so called because birds could not fly over it there; for formerly it was so surrounded by the density of the forests that the most grievous smell of the sulphurous water exhaling from it through the narrow passages killed with its breath the birds flying over: which thing Augustus Caesar, understanding, made the pleasant places out of the pestilential ones by cutting down the woods. A lake, moreover, is the same as a pool, where a vast body of water gathers.

For it is called 'stagnus' (pool) from the fact that there the water stands (stet) and does not run off. XX. ON THE ABYSS. The 'abyss' is an impenetrable depth of waters, or of caverns of hidden waters, from which springs and rivers proceed; or those which secretly go beneath, whence too it is called 'abyss.' For all waters, or torrents, return through hidden channels to their mother, the abyss. 'Waves' (fluctus) are so called because they are made by blowings (flatibus). For the waters, agitated by the impulse of the winds, billow. 'Water' (aqua) is standing and level without motion. But a 'wave' (unda) is a projecting liquid which is always in motion. Lucretius (2,151): 'the airy waves,' that is, motions, and that body which flows back and forth. For neither is a wave by itself water, but water in a certain motion and agitation, called 'unda' as if from going and returning (ab eundo et redeundo).

'Latex' properly is the liquid of a spring; and it is called 'latex' because it lies hidden (lateat) in the veins of the earth. A 'drop' (gutta) is that which stands still; a 'trickle' (stilla) is that which falls. Hence 'stillicidium' (dripping), as if a falling drop (stilla cadens). For 'stiria' is Greek, that is, a drop: from it a diminutive is formed, so that we say 'stilla'; but while it stands, or hangs from roofs or trees, it is as if a glutinous drop (gutta); when it has fallen, it is a 'stilla.' 'Foam' (spuma) is so called from the fact that it is spat out (spuatur); for foam is the filth of the waves; whence too must and the things that are cooked are purged of foam. Hence also 'spittle' (sputum). XXI. ON RIVERS. A 'river' (fluvius) is a perennial running-down of waters, named from flowing continually. Properly, however, 'flumen' is the water itself, 'fluvius' the course of the water. But 'flumen' comes before 'fluvius,' that is, the water before the course.

There are, moreover, two kinds of rivers: one a torrent, the other a living stream. Concerning which Virgil (Aeneid 2,719): 'Until I have washed myself in living water.' A 'torrent' is water coming with force. It is called 'torrent' because it grows with rain and dries up (torrescit) with drought, that is, becomes parched (arescit). Concerning which Pacuvius (13): 'The torrent parches with fiery vapor.' The Greeks gave it a name from winter, we from summer; they from the time in which it grows, we from the time in which it dries up. An 'amnis' is a river garlanded with grove and foliage, and it is called 'amnis' from that very pleasantness (amoenitas). A 'descent' (decursus) is properly the end of a course, whether of waters or of anything whatever. 'Brooks' (rivi) are so called because they are diverted (deriventur) for irrigating, that is, for bringing waters into the fields; for 'to irrigate' (inrigare) is to bring in (inducere).

A 'whirlpool' (gurges) is properly a deep place in a river. A 'well' (puteus) is a dug-out place from which water is drawn, named from drinking (potatio). A 'spring' (fons) is the head of the rising water, as if pouring out (fundens) waters. But certain rivers have received names from their own particular causes, of which some are to be noted that are celebrated as famous in histories. The river Geon (Gihon), going out of Paradise and encircling all Ethiopia, is called by this name because by the increase of its overflowing it waters the land of Egypt; for GE in Greek means 'earth' in Latin. This among the Egyptians is called the Nile, on account of the mud (limus) which it carries, which produces fertility; whence too it is called 'Nilus,' as if NEAN ILUN (new mud): for formerly the Nile was called in Latin 'Melo.'

It appears, moreover, in the Nilis lake, from which, turned toward the south, it is received into Egypt, where, driven back by the blasts of the north wind, it swells with the waters struggling backward, and causes the inundation of Egypt. The river Ganges, which holy Scripture names Phison, going out of Paradise, proceeds to the regions of India. It is called 'Phison,' that is, 'a throng' (caterva), because it is filled by ten great rivers joined to it and becomes one; but it is called 'Ganges' from Gangarus, a king of India. It is said, moreover, to rise up in the manner of the Nile, and to burst forth over the lands of the East. The river Tigris of Mesopotamia, rising out of Paradise and proceeding against the Assyrians, and after many windings flowing into the Dead Sea.

It is called by this name on account of its swiftness, after the fashion of the beast the tiger (tigris) running with excessive speed. The river Euphrates of Mesopotamia, rising out of Paradise, most abundant in gems, which flows through the middle of Babylonia. This took its name from crops (fruges), or from abundance (ubertas), for in Hebrew 'Ephrata' is interpreted as 'fertility': for it irrigates Mesopotamia in certain places just as the Nile does Alexandria. Sallust, moreover, a most reliable author, asserts (Histories 4,77) that the Tigris and the Euphrates flow from one source in Armenia, which, going by different ways, are divided farther apart, a middle space of many thousands being left between; yet the land which is enclosed by them is called Mesopotamia. From which Jerome (On sites and names

202) observed that the rivers of Paradise are to be understood otherwise. The river Indus is of the East, which is received by the Red Sea. Hystaspes was a most ancient king of the Medes, from whom a river of the East took its name, which is now called Hydaspes. Concerning which Lucan writes. Which, though it is a river of the Persians, is nevertheless said to run down against the east. The river Araris is of the East. Concerning which Virgil (Eclogues 1,63): 'Or the Parthian shall drink of the Arar.' For it runs through Parthia and Assyria. The river Bactrus of the East is said to be named from king Bactrus; from whom also come the Bactriani and their city. The Choaspes is a river of the Persians, called in their tongue because it has a wonderful sweetness of water, so much so that the Persian kings, as long as it flows between the banks of Persia, claimed for themselves cups from it.

From this river some think that the Cydnus, a river of Cilicia, is derived. The Araxes is a river of Armenia, which rises from one mountain with the Euphrates by different caverns, called so because by its rapacity it lays all things low. Whence too, when Alexander wished to cross it, a bridge having been constructed, it flooded with such force that it demolished the bridge. This, at short intervals from the source of the Euphrates, raises its head, and then is borne into the Caspian Sea. The river of Syria which is called Orontes, running down beside the walls of Antioch, which, rising from the sunrise, is hidden in the sea not far from the city; which the ancients called in Latin 'Orontes' from the course of its origin. By the very force of its streams, which are colder, and by the zephyrs constantly blowing there, the whole city is cooled at almost every moment.

The Jordan (Iordanis) is a river of Judaea, named from two springs, of which one is called Ior, the other Dan. These, therefore, being far distant from each other, when they are united into one channel, are thenceforth called Jordan. It rises, moreover, beneath Mount Lebanon, and divides Judaea and Arabia; which, through many windings beside Jericho, flows into the Dead Sea. The Eusis, poured out from the Caucasus mountains, together with many others hurls itself into the Euxine Sea; whence too it is named. The Cydnus is a river of Cilicia, proceeding from Mount Taurus, having a wonderful sweetness of waters, and because whatever is white the Syrians call 'cydnum' in their native tongue. Whence too this name was given to the river, because it swells in summer, when the snows melt; in the remaining seasons of the year it is thin and quiet.

The Hylas is a river of Asia. The Pactolus is a river of Asia, carrying golden sands: concerning which Virgil (Aeneid 10,142): 'And the Pactolus irrigates with gold.' Which, on account of its golden flow, they otherwise call Chrysorrhoas (golden-flowing). The Hermus is a river of Asia which cuts through the Smyrnaean fields, and is itself full of golden waves and sands; from which too Smyrna is named. The Maeander is a winding river of Asia, which, with its recurring banks between Caria and Ionia, is hurled into the gulf that divides Miletus and Priene; and it is called 'Maeander' because it is winding and never runs straight. Concerning which Ovid (Metamorphoses 2,246): 'The Maeander plays in its curving waves.'

Tanus was the first king of the Scythians, from whom the river Tanais (Don) is said to be named, which, coming from the Riphaean forests, separates Europe from Asia, running in the middle between the two parts of the world and flowing into the Pontus. The Inachus is a river of Achaia, watering the Argolic fields, which king Inachus named after himself, who first gave the beginning of the Argive people. There too is the Erymanthus, sent down from Mount Erymanthus. The Padus (Po), a river of Italy, poured out from the ridges of the Alps, rises from three sources; of which one has the name 'Padus,' which, spread out in the manner of a pool, divides the river with its bosom; from which too it is called 'Padus.' This was surnamed by the Greeks 'Eridanus,' after Eridanus the son of the Sun, whom they call Phaethon; who, struck by lightning, was cast down into this same river and extinguished.

It is increased, moreover, at the rising of the Dog Star as the snows melt, and with the accession of thirty rivers is carried down around Ravenna into the Adriatic Sea. The Tiber (Tiberis), a river of Italy, is said to be named from Tiberinus, king of the Albans, who fell into this river, and from his end gave it a name. For formerly it had the ancient name 'Albula' from its color, because it is white with snows. This same is 'Tibris,' which is also 'Tiberis'; but 'Tiberis' is used in everyday speech, 'Tibris' in verse. The Danube (Danubius), a river of Germany, is said to be named from the abundance of snows by which it is chiefly increased. This is the one which in Europe has more fame than all others. The same is also the 'Ister,' because while it goes through countless peoples, it changes both its name and, by encompassing them, gathers greater strength for itself.

It rises from the Germanic ridges and the western parts of the barbarians, proceeding toward the east: it receives sixty rivers into itself, and flows into the Pontus by seven mouths. The Rhone (Rhodanus), a river of Gaul, is surnamed from the town of Rhoda, which colonists of the Rhodians founded; which, urged on with a rapid course, cutting the straits of the Tyrrhenian sea, often causes no small danger to those sailing, while the waves of the sea and the streams of the river contend among themselves. The Rhine (Rhenus) is said to be named from its association with the Rhone, since it rises with the same from one province. It is, moreover, a river of Germany, reckoned among the three greatest rivers of Europe, which directs its courses from the ridge of the Alps all the way into the depths of the Ocean. The Ebro (Iberus), a river which once gave its name to all of Hispania.

The Minho (Mineus), a river of Gallaecia, took its name from the color of the pigment (minium, vermilion) which is found in it in great quantity. The Durius (Douro) is so named by the Greeks, as if 'Doric.' Carthage of Hispania named the river Tagus, from which it rises and proceeds; a river abundant in gold-bearing sands, and for this reason preferred to the other rivers of the Spains. The Baetis (Guadalquivir), a river which also gave its name to the province of Baetica. Concerning which Martial (12,98,1): 'O Baetis, binding your hair with an olive-bearing crown, who tinge golden fleeces in gleaming waters'; because there the wools are tinged with a beautiful color. And 'Baetis' is so called because it runs down over low ground: for the Greeks call the low or sunken 'bitin.'

Certain rivers, moreover, were blocked up in the Flood by the loosened mass of the lands, while certain others, which did not exist before, then burst forth as the channels of the abyss were broken open. XXII. ON FLOODS. A 'flood' (diluvium) is so called because by a disaster of waters it destroys all that it has inundated. The first flood occurred under Noah, when the Almighty, offended by the crimes of men, with the whole world covered and all things destroyed, there was one single expanse of sky and sea. Of which we see the token even to this day in the stones which, in remote mountains, we are wont to behold hardened together with shells and oysters, and often even hollowed out by the waters. The second flood was in Achaia in the times of the patriarch Jacob and of Ogygus, who was the founder and king of Eleusis, and gave his name to the place and the time.

The third flood was in Thessaly in the times of Moses or of Amphictyon, who reigned as the third after Cecrops. In his times an overflowing of waters consumed the greater part of the peoples of Thessaly, a few being delivered through the refuges of the mountains, especially on Mount Parnassus; in whose circuit Deucalion then held sway, who then received and cherished and nourished those fleeing to him by rafts, across the twin ridges of Parnassus. Whence, for this reason, the fables of the Greeks report that the human race was restored by him from stones, on account of the ingrained hardness of men's hearts. But rivers also, when swollen beyond custom by unaccustomed rains, whether in duration or in magnitude, overflow and lay low many things, and these too are called a 'flood.'

It is to be known, moreover, that rivers, when they grow beyond measure, not only bring damage for the present, but also signify certain things to come.