Nowadays we have Wiki for an answer to all our questions, but what
before the time of internet? -indeed young people, such a time has really
existed. Well, for a long time people consulted the Etymologiae by Bishop Isodore of Sevilla (560-636). He compiled
this work at the end of his life and with 448 chapters in 20 volumes it is a
remarkable achievement. It is a condensation of many learned books of antiquity,
many of which are lost now, and only known from excerpts in the Etymologiae. It is called that way
because Isodore gave an etymology for almost every word. As comparative linguistics
did not exist at that time – it came into existence in the 19th
century with the knowledge of Sanskrit in the West – these etymologies are
mostly very fanciful. However, they give us an idea of how scholars at that
time thought. For centuries the Etymologiae
were seen as the final answer and indisputable authority.
The following section is the lemma nox
Liber IV. Caput XXXI.
DE NOCTE.
[1] Nox a nocendo dicta, eo quod oculis noceat. Quae idcirco lunae
ac siderum lucem habet, ne indecora esset, et ut consolaretur omnes nocte
operantes, et ut quibusdam animantibus, quae lucem solis ferre non possunt, ad
sufficientiam temperaretur. [2] Noctis autem et diei alternatio propter vicissitudinem
dormiendi vigilandique effecta est, et ut operis diurni laborem noctis requies
temperet. [3] Noctem autem fieri, aut quia longo itinere lassatur sol, et cum
ad ultimum caeli spatium pervenit, elanguescit ac tabefactus efflat suos ignes;
aut quia eadem vi sub terras cogitur qua super terras pertulit lumen, et sic
umbra terrae noctem facit. Unde et
Vergilius (Aen. 2,250):
Ruit Oceano nox,
involvens umbra magna terramque polumque.
[4] Noctis partes septem sunt, id est vesper, crepusculum, conticinium,
intempestum, gallicinium, matutinum, diluculum. [5] Vesperum ab stella
occidentali vocatum, quae solem occiduum sequitur et tenebras sequentes
praecedit. De qua Vergilius (Aen.
1,374):
Ante diem clauso conponit vesper Olympo.
[6] Tenebras autem dictas, quod teneant umbras. [7] Crepusculum est
dubia lux. Nam creperum dubium
dicimus, hoc est inter lucem et tenebras. [8]
Conticinium est quando omnes silent. Conticescere enim silere est. [9]
Intempestum est medium et inactuosum noctis tempus, quando agi nihil potest et
omnia sopore quieta sunt. Nam tempus per se non intellegitur, nisi per actus
humanos. [10] Medium autem noctis actum caret. Ergo intempesta inactuosa, quasi
sine tempore, hoc est sine actu, per quem dignoscitur tempus; unde est: «Intempestive
venisti». Ergo intempesta dicitur quia caret tempora, id est actum. [11]
Gallicinium propter gallos lucis praenuntios dictum. [12] Matutinum est inter
abscessum tenebrarum et aurorae adventum; et dictum matutinum quod hoc tempus
inchoante mane sit. [13] Diluculum quasi iam incipiens parva diei lux. Haec et
aurora, quae solem praecedit. [14] Est autem aurora diei clarescentis exordium
et primus splendor aeris, qui Graece ἠὼς dicitur; quam nos per derivationem
auroram vocamus, quasi eororam. Unde est illud (Virg. Aen. 2,417):
et laetus Eoos
Eurus equis.
nox nocendo: the roots of these words
are not related, but the etymology is less far-fetched than you might think:
reading at night with only a candle can indeed harm the eyes. (nox has cognates
in every Indo-European language: cf. English night,
Greek nuks, Sanskrit nakt, Hettitic nekuz `at night’. Noceo is a verb derived from nex `violent death’.
quae idcirco: because the night etc.
indecorus: without beauty
consolor consolatus sum: to cheer, console
omnes nocte operantes: I wonder what night workers Isodore is thinking of, but as a
churchman surely not of thieves and prostitutes.
sufficientia: sufficiency (post classical Latin)
understand lucem as object.
vicissitudo –inis (f): alternation
diurnus: daily
lasso: to make weary
elanguesco elangui: to grow faint
tabefactus: wearied
afflo: to breath out
vi: what kind of force Isodore thinks of is not clear. His picture of the world is unclear: it must be
flat, but in what shape is difficult to decide.
Vergil 2.250: Night rushes from the Ocean, cloaking with its great
shadow both earth and sky.
crepusculum: evening twilight
conticinium: silence
intempestus: dark (intempestum tempus)
gallicinium: cock-crow
matutinum: early morning
diluculum:: day break
stella occidentali: the western star is Vesper, of course not a star but the planet
Venus.
occiduus: going down
Vergil 1.374Sooner, as the heavens are closed up, Vesper lay the day
to rest. (ante is adverbial and claudere Olympum is poetic for the oncoming of darkness, which shuts heaven
from view)
creperum: darkness (rare and post classical Latin)
inactuosus: without activity
sopor soporis (m): deep sleep
Nam tempus per se non
intellegitur, nisi per actus humanos: a very fancy
etymology follows now:
careo : be deprived of, lack (Here constructed with the acc, instead of
abl. a clear sign of carelessness in cases in vulgar Latin.)
intempesta…sine tempore: it is true that tempestas,
from which intempestus is connected
with tempus, but intempestus has the meaning `unseasonable, unpropitious, dark’ and
the idea of time has almost whole gone to the background.
dignosco dignovi: perceive
intempestive: untimely
gallus: cock
praenuntius: announcer
inchoo: to begin
mane: morning
matutinum mane: that Isodore
derives tenebrae from tenere umbrae is somehow conceivable, but this etymology is of great
imagination!
Diluculum is a deminuitive therefore parva
lux (diminutives are in English almost
unknown, save for words like booklet `a small book’, but they are common in German
and especially Dutch, in which every noun can be made into a diminutive.)
incipio –cepi –ceptum: to begin
exordium: beginning
ἠὼς and aurora are indeed
related, but not in the way Isodore thinks: aurora
comes from *ausus + a. (ἠὼς and aurora are related to English east.)
Vergil 2.417: And the East Wind rejoices in its horses of Dawn.
Translation (go to page 127)
About Isodore
And Schubert’s song Die Nacht
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