Etymologiae, also known as the Origines ('Origins'), usually abbreviated Orig., is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by the influential Christian bishop Isidore of Seville towards the end of his life. Isidore was encouraged to write the book by his friend Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa. Etymologiae summarized and organized a wealth of knowledge from hundreds of classical sources; three of its books are derived largely from Pliny the Elder's Natural History. Isidore acknowledges Pliny, but not his other principal sources, namely Cassiodorus, Servius, and Gaius Julius Solinus.
Page of Etymologiae, Carolingian manuscript (8th century) – Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels
Manuscript page from the start of the Etymologiae, showing the letters of the Greek alphabet. Codex Karolinus, 8th century. Wolfenbüttel digital library.
An early printed edition, by Guntherus Zainer, Augsburg, 1472. British Library
1892 statue of Isidore of Seville in Madrid by José Alcoverro
Isidore of Seville was a Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of the ancient world".
St. Isidore of Seville (1655), depicted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
A statue of Isidore of Seville by José Alcoverro, 1892, outside the Biblioteca Nacional de España, in Madrid
Seville Cathedral. Sculpture by Lorenzo Mercadante de Bretaña
A page of Etymologiae, Carolingian manuscript (8th century), Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium
