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86-558: The term francisca first appeared in the book Etymologiarum sive originum , libri XVIII by Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) as a name used in Hispania to refer to these weapons "because of their use by the Franks". The historian Gregory of Tours (c. 538–594) in his History of the Franks uses two Latin terms for the Frankish axe: securis and bipennis . The régime of Vichy France used

172-422: A "grammar" in the sense that most linguists use, particularly as they are prescriptive in intent rather than descriptive . Constructed languages (also called planned languages or conlangs ) are more common in the modern-day, although still extremely uncommon compared to natural languages. Many have been designed to aid human communication (for example, naturalistic Interlingua , schematic Esperanto , and

258-449: A 'Superstitious' astrology ( astrologia superstitiosa ) from a 'natural' astrology. The first deals with the horoscope and the attempt of foreseeing the future of one or more persons; the latter was a legitimate activity which had concerns with meteorological predictions, including iatromathematics and astrological medicine . Book IV covers medicine, including the four humours, diseases, remedies and medical instruments. He derives

344-517: A discipline in Hellenism from the 3rd century BC forward with authors such as Rhyanus and Aristarchus of Samothrace . The oldest known grammar handbook is the Art of Grammar ( Τέχνη Γραμματική ), a succinct guide to speaking and writing clearly and effectively, written by the ancient Greek scholar Dionysius Thrax ( c.  170  – c.  90 BC ), a student of Aristarchus of Samothrace who founded

430-435: A discrepancy between contemporary usage and that which has been accepted, over time, as being standard or "correct". Linguists tend to view prescriptive grammar as having little justification beyond their authors' aesthetic tastes, although style guides may give useful advice about standard language employment based on descriptions of usage in contemporary writings of the same language. Linguistic prescriptions also form part of

516-418: A distinct Montenegrin standard is a matter of controversy, some treat Montenegrin as a separate standard lect, and some think that it should be considered another form of Serbian. Norwegian has two standards, Bokmål and Nynorsk , the choice between which is subject to controversy : Each Norwegian municipality can either declare one as its official language or it can remain "language neutral". Nynorsk

602-582: A facsimile edition of the Toledo manuscript of the Etymologiae in 1909. Wallace Lindsay edited the first modern critical edition in 1911. Jacques Fontaine and Manuel C. Diaz y Diaz have between 1981 and 1995 supervised the production of the first five volumes of the Etymologiae in the Belle Lettres series "Auteurs Latins du Moyen Age", with extensive footnotes. Grammar In linguistics , grammar

688-584: A particular language variety involves a speaker internalizing these rules, many or most of which are acquired by observing other speakers, as opposed to intentional study or instruction . Much of this internalization occurs during early childhood; learning a language later in life usually involves more direct instruction. The term grammar can also describe the linguistic behaviour of groups of speakers and writers rather than individuals. Differences in scale are important to this meaning: for example, English grammar could describe those rules followed by every one of

774-470: A rich source of classical lore and learning for medieval writers. Isidore quotes from around 475 works from over 200 authors in his works, including those outside the Etymologiae . Bishop Braulio , to whom Isidore dedicated it and sent it for correction, divided it into its twenty books. An analysis of Book XII by Jacques André identifies 58 quotations from named authors and 293 borrowed but uncited usages: 79 from Solinus; 61 from Servius ; 45 from Pliny

860-449: A scholar. He started to put together the Etymologiae , a collection of his knowledge, in about 600, and continued to write until around 625. The Etymologiae presents an abbreviated form of much of that part of the learning of antiquity that Christians thought worth preserving. Etymologies, often very far-fetched, form the subject of just one of the encyclopedia's twenty books (Book X), but perceived linguistic similarities permeate

946-410: A school (attached to a cathedral or monastery) that teaches Latin grammar to future priests and monks. It originally referred to a school that taught students how to read, scan, interpret, and declaim Greek and Latin poets (including Homer, Virgil, Euripides, and others). These should not be mistaken for the related, albeit distinct, modern British grammar schools. A standard language is a dialect that

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1032-616: A school on the Greek island of Rhodes. Dionysius Thrax's grammar book remained the primary grammar textbook for Greek schoolboys until as late as the twelfth century AD. The Romans based their grammatical writings on it and its basic format remains the basis for grammar guides in many languages even today. Latin grammar developed by following Greek models from the 1st century BC, due to the work of authors such as Orbilius Pupillus , Remmius Palaemon , Marcus Valerius Probus , Verrius Flaccus , and Aemilius Asper . The grammar of Irish originated in

1118-452: A standard defining nationality or ethnicity . Recently, efforts have begun to update grammar instruction in primary and secondary education. The main focus has been to prevent the use of outdated prescriptive rules in favor of setting norms based on earlier descriptive research and to change perceptions about the relative "correctness" of prescribed standard forms in comparison to non-standard dialects. A series of metastudies have found that

1204-492: A vague impression of a flat disc-shaped Earth , though authors disagree about Isidore's beliefs on the matter. Book XV covers cities and buildings including public buildings, houses, storehouses and workshops, parts of buildings, tents, fields and roads. Book XVI covers metals and rocks, starting with dust and earth, and moving on to gemstones of different colours, glass and mines. Metals include gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and electrum . Weights and measures end

1290-421: Is backed by 27 percent of municipalities. The main language used in primary schools, chosen by referendum within the local school district, normally follows the official language of its municipality. Standard German emerged from the standardized chancellery use of High German in the 16th and 17th centuries. Until about 1800, it was almost exclusively a written language, but now it is so widely spoken that most of

1376-493: Is based on the local dialects of Buenos Aires and Montevideo ( Rioplatense Spanish ). Portuguese has, for now, two official standards , Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese . The Serbian variant of Serbo-Croatian is likewise divided; Serbia and the Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina use their own distinct normative subvarieties, with differences in yat reflexes. The existence and codification of

1462-529: Is called descriptive grammar. This kind of linguistic description contrasts with linguistic prescription , a plan to marginalize some constructions while codifying others, either absolutely or in the framework of a standard language . The word grammar often has divergent meanings when used in contexts outside linguistics. It may be used more broadly to include orthographic conventions of written language , such as spelling and punctuation, which are not typically considered part of grammar by linguists; that is,

1548-538: Is called that because it numbs ( torpescere , compare English "torpid") anyone who touches it. Book XIII describes the physical world , atoms , classical elements , the sky, clouds, thunder and lightning, rainbows, winds, and waters including the sea, the Mediterranean, bays, tides, lakes, rivers and floods. The sky is called caelum , as it has stars stamped on to it, like a decorated pot ( caelatus ). Clouds are called nubes as they veil ( obnubere )

1634-631: Is derived from retaining ( retinere ) fish, or perhaps, writes Isidore, from the ropes ( restis ) they are attached to. Book XX completes Isidore's encyclopaedia, describing food and drink and vessels for these, storage and cooking vessels; furnishings including beds and chairs; vehicles, farm and garden tools and equipment for horses. Isidore was widely influential throughout the Middle Ages , feeding directly into word lists and encyclopaedias by Papias , Huguccio , Bartholomaeus Anglicus and Vincent of Beauvais , as well as being used everywhere in

1720-605: Is heavily indebted to translations from the Greek by Boethius ; in Book III he is similarly in debt to Cassiodorus , who provided the gist of Isidore's treatment of arithmetic. Caelius Aurelianus contributes generously to the part of Book IV dealing with medicine. Isidore's view of Roman law in Book V is viewed through the lens of the Visigothic compendiary called the Breviary of Alaric , which

1806-403: Is not significant and syntax is highly significant in an analytic language. For example, Chinese and Afrikaans are highly analytic, thus meaning is very context-dependent. (Both have some inflections, and both have had more in the past; thus, they are becoming even less synthetic and more "purely" analytic over time.) Latin , which is highly synthetic , uses affixes and inflections to convey

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1892-647: Is often simplistic scientifically and philosophically, especially compared to .. figures such as Ambrose and Augustine." Writing in The Daily Telegraph , Peter Jones compares Etymologiae to the Internet: One might have thought that Isidore, Bishop of Seville, AD 600-636, had already suffered enough by having Oxford's computerised 'student administration project', planned since 2002, named after him. But five years ago Pope John Paul II compounded his misfortune by proposing (evidently) to nominate [Isidore] as

1978-399: Is promoted above other dialects in writing, education, and, broadly speaking, in the public sphere; it contrasts with vernacular dialects , which may be the objects of study in academic, descriptive linguistics but which are rarely taught prescriptively. The standardized " first language " taught in primary education may be subject to political controversy because it may sometimes establish

2064-521: Is quoted in the Etymologiae , seems to have inspired the general plan of the work, as well as many of its details. Isidore's Latin, replete with nonstandard Vulgar Latin , stands at the cusp of Latin and the local Romance language emerging in Hispania. According to the prefatory letters, the work was composed at the urging of Braulio, to whom Isidore sent the unedited manuscript at the end of his life, which seems to have begun circulating before Braulio

2150-523: Is really a mosaic of pieces borrowed from previous writers, sacred and profane, often their 'ipsa verba' without alteration," Wallace Lindsay noted in 1911, having recently edited Isidore for the Clarendon Press , with the further observation, however, that a portion of the texts quoted have otherwise been lost: the Prata of Suetonius , for instance, can only be reconstructed from Isidore's excerpts. In

2236-444: Is rooted in the dream that language can capture the universe and that if we but parse it correctly, it can lead us to the proper understanding of God's creation. His word derivations are not based on principles of historical linguistics but follow their own logic... Isidore is the master of bricolage... His reductions and compilations did indeed transmit ancient learning, but Isidore, who often relied on scholia and earlier compilations,

2322-649: Is the 13th-century Codex Gigas ; the earliest surviving manuscript, the Codex Sangallensis , preserves books XI to XX from the 9th century. Etymologiae was printed in at least ten editions between 1472 and 1530, after which its importance faded during the Renaissance . The first scholarly edition was printed in Madrid in 1599; the first modern critical edition was edited by Wallace Lindsay in 1911. While less well known in modern times, modern scholars recognize

2408-512: Is the limit. He attributes geometry to Ancient Egypt , arguing that because the River Nile flooded and covered the land with mud, geometry was needed to mark out people's land "with lines and measures". Isidore distinguishes astronomy from astrology and covers the world, the sky and the celestial sphere, the zodiac , the Sun, Moon, stars, Milky Way , and planets, and the names of the stars. He derives

2494-482: Is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses , phrases , and words . The term may also refer to the study of such rules, a subject that includes phonology , morphology , and syntax , together with phonetics , semantics , and pragmatics . There are, broadly speaking, two different ways to study grammar: traditional grammar and theoretical grammar . Fluency in

2580-535: The First Grammatical Treatise , but became influential only in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In 1486, Antonio de Nebrija published Las introduciones Latinas contrapuesto el romance al Latin , and the first Spanish grammar , Gramática de la lengua castellana , in 1492. During the 16th-century Italian Renaissance , the Questione della lingua was the discussion on the status and ideal form of

2666-409: The Middle Ages . It was so popular that it was read in place of many of the original classics that it summarized; as a result, some of these ceased to be copied and were lost. It was cited by Dante Alighieri (who placed Isidore in his Paradiso ), quoted by Geoffrey Chaucer , and mentioned by the poets Boccaccio , Petrarch , and John Gower . Among the thousand-odd surviving manuscript copies

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2752-515: The conventions used for writing a language. It may also be used more narrowly to refer to a set of prescriptive norms only, excluding the aspects of a language's grammar which do not change or are clearly acceptable (or not) without the need for discussions. The word grammar is derived from Greek γραμματικὴ τέχνη ( grammatikḕ téchnē ), which means "art of letters", from γράμμα ( grámma ), "letter", itself from γράφειν ( gráphein ), "to draw, to write". The same Greek root also appears in

2838-563: The 12th century, compares the Hebrew language with Arabic in the Islamic grammatical tradition . Belonging to the trivium of the seven liberal arts , grammar was taught as a core discipline throughout the Middle Ages , following the influence of authors from Late Antiquity , such as Priscian . Treatment of vernaculars began gradually during the High Middle Ages , with isolated works such as

2924-429: The 16th century onward, such as Grammatica o Arte de la Lengua General de Los Indios de Los Reynos del Perú (1560), a Quechua grammar by Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás . From the latter part of the 18th century, grammar came to be understood as a subfield of the emerging discipline of modern linguistics. The Deutsche Grammatik of Jacob Grimm was first published in the 1810s. The Comparative Grammar of Franz Bopp ,

3010-596: The 7th century with Auraicept na n-Éces . Arabic grammar emerged with Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali in the 7th century. The first treatises on Hebrew grammar appeared in the High Middle Ages , in the context of Midrash (exegesis of the Hebrew Bible ). The Karaite tradition originated in Abbasid Baghdad . The Diqduq (10th century) is one of the earliest grammatical commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. Ibn Barun in

3096-504: The Earth, translated by Barney as "globe", "derives its name from the roundness of the circle, because it resembles a wheel; hence a small wheel is called a 'small disk' ( orbiculus )". Barney notes that orbis "refers to the 'circle' of lands around the Mediterranean, and hence to the total known extent of land." Isidore illustrated the Etymologies with a circular T-O map which also gave

3182-555: The Elder. Isidore takes care to name classical and Christian scholars whose material he uses: in descending order of frequency, Aristotle (15 references), Jerome (10 times), Cato (9 times), Plato (8 times), Pliny, Donatus, Eusebius, Augustine, Suetonius, and Josephus. He mentions as prolific authors the pagan Varro and the Christians Origen and Augustine . But his translator Stephen Barney notes as remarkable that he never actually names

3268-522: The Greek term syllogism with the Latin term argumentation ( argumentatio ), which he derives from the Latin for "clear mind" ( arguta mens ). Book III covers the medieval Quadrivium , the four subjects that supplemented the Trivium being arithmetic, geometry , music, and astronomy. He argues that there are infinitely many numbers, as you can always add one (or any other number) to whatever number you think

3354-450: The Italian language, initiated by Dante 's de vulgari eloquentia ( Pietro Bembo , Prose della volgar lingua Venice 1525). The first grammar of Slovene was written in 1583 by Adam Bohorič , and Grammatica Germanicae Linguae , the first grammar of German, was published in 1578. Grammars of some languages began to be compiled for the purposes of evangelism and Bible translation from

3440-452: The Latin for soil ( humus ), as in Genesis 2:7 it says that man is made from the soil. Urine ( urina ) gets its name either from the fact that it can burn ( urere ) the skin or, Isidore hedges, that it is from the kidneys ( renes ). Femina , meaning woman, comes from femora/femina meaning thighs, as this part of the body shows she is not a man. The Latin for buttocks is clunis as they are near

3526-484: The Middle Ages, the Etymologiae was the textbook most in use, regarded so highly as a repository of classical learning that, in a great measure, it superseded the use of the individual works of the classics themselves, full texts of which were no longer copied and thus were lost. It was one of the most popular compendia in medieval libraries. "An editor's enthusiasm is soon chilled by the discovery that Isidore's book

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3612-458: The Old and New Testaments, the authors and names of the holy books, libraries and translators, authors, writing materials including tablets, papyrus and parchment, books, scribes, and Christian festivals. Book VII describes the basic scheme concerning God, angels, and saints: in other words, the hierarchies of heaven and earth from patriarchs, prophets and apostles down the scale through people named in

3698-497: The Styx causes immediate death. Book XIV covers geography , describing the Earth, islands, promontories, mountains and caves. The Earth is divided into three parts, Asia occupying half the globe, and Europe and Africa each occupying a quarter. Europe is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean, reaching in from the Ocean that flows all around the land. Isidore writes that the orbis of

3784-594: The Vatican has named Isidore the patron saint of the Internet, which is likely to make his work slightly better known. Ralph Hexter, also writing in The Classical Tradition , comments on "Isidore's largest and massively influential work... on which he was still at work at the time of his death... his own architecture for the whole is relatively clear (if somewhat arbitrary)... At the deepest level Isidore's encyclopedia

3870-446: The advent of written representations , formal rules about language usage tend to appear also, although such rules tend to describe writing conventions more accurately than conventions of speech. Formal grammars are codifications of usage which are developed by repeated documentation and observation over time. As rules are established and developed, the prescriptive concept of grammatical correctness can arise. This often produces

3956-538: The book. Games with boards and dice are described. Book XVII describes agriculture, including grains, legumes, vines, trees, aromatic herbs and vegetables. Book XVIII covers the terms of war, games, and jurisprudence . Isidore describes standards, trumpets, weapons including swords, spears, arrows, slings, battering rams, and armour including shields, breastplates and helmets. Athletic games include running and jumping, throwing and wrestling. Circus games are described, with chariot racing, horse racing and vaulting. In

4042-546: The compilers of the encyclopedias that he used "at second or third hand", Aulus Gellius , Nonius Marcellus , Lactantius , Macrobius , and Martianus Capella . Barney further notes as "most striking" that Isidore never mentions three out of his four principal sources (the one he does name being Pliny): Cassiodorus, Servius and Solinus. Conversely, he names Pythagoras eight times, even though Pythagoras wrote no books. The Etymologiae are thus "complacently derivative". In Book II, dealing with dialectic and rhetoric, Isidore

4128-506: The curved ( curvus ) vault of the heavens from the Latin word for "upside-down" ( conversus ). He explains eclipses of the Sun as the Moon coming between the Earth and the Sun and eclipses of the Moon as happening when it runs into the shadow of the Earth. He condemns the Roman naming of the planets after their gods: Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Isidore of Seiville distinguished between

4214-418: The explanation for variation in speech, particularly variation in the speech of an individual speaker (for example, why some speakers say "I didn't do nothing", some say "I didn't do anything", and some say one or the other depending on social context). The formal study of grammar is an important part of children's schooling from a young age through advanced learning , though the rules taught in schools are not

4300-475: The explicit teaching of grammatical parts of speech and syntax has little or no effect on the improvement of student writing quality in elementary school, middle school or high school; other methods of writing instruction had far greater positive effect, including strategy instruction, collaborative writing, summary writing, process instruction, sentence combining and inquiry projects. The preeminence of Parisian French has reigned largely unchallenged throughout

4386-606: The form of small snippets. His influence also pertained to early medieval riddle collections such as the Bern Riddles or the Aenigmata of Aldhelm . He was cited by Dante Alighieri , quoted by Geoffrey Chaucer , and his name was mentioned by the poets Boccaccio , Petrarch and John Gower among others. Dante went so far as to place Isidore in Paradise in the final part of his Divine Comedy , Paradiso (10.130–131). Throughout

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4472-693: The former German dialects are nearly extinct. Standard Chinese has official status as the standard spoken form of the Chinese language in the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of China (ROC), and the Republic of Singapore . Pronunciation of Standard Chinese is based on the local accent of Mandarin Chinese from Luanping, Chengde in Hebei Province near Beijing, while grammar and syntax are based on modern vernacular written Chinese . Modern Standard Arabic

4558-519: The gospels to martyrs, clergymen, monks and ordinary Christians. Book VIII covers religion in the shape of the Christian church, the Jews and heretical sects, pagan philosophers including poets, sibyls and magi , and the pagan gods. Book IX covers languages, peoples, kingdoms, cities and titles. Book X is a word-list of nouns and adjectives, together with supposed etymologies for them. For example,

4644-406: The head and length of the haft would allow the axe to be thrown with considerable momentum to an effective range of about 12 m (39 ft). Even if the edge of the blade were not to strike the target, the weight of the iron head could cause injury. The francisca also had a psychological effect, in that, on the throwing of the francisca, the enemy might turn and run in the fear that another volley

4730-523: The head is more upswept, forming a wider angle with the haft. Most franciscas have a round or teardrop-shaped eye designed to fit the tapered haft, similar to Viking axes. Based on the measurements of modern replicas , the francisca had a haft length of around 40–45 cm (16–18 in) and a 10 cm (3.9 in) cutting edge Archived 2021-03-08 at the Wayback Machine with an average weight of around 600 g (21 oz; 1.3 lb). Based on

4816-416: The highly logical Lojban ). Each of these languages has its own grammar. Syntax refers to the linguistic structure above the word level (for example, how sentences are formed) – though without taking into account intonation , which is the domain of phonology. Morphology, by contrast, refers to the structure at and below the word level (for example, how compound words are formed), but above

4902-454: The history of modern French literature. Standard Italian is based on the speech of Florence rather than the capital because of its influence on early literature. Likewise, standard Spanish is not based on the speech of Madrid but on that of educated speakers from more northern areas such as Castile and León (see Gramática de la lengua castellana ). In Argentina and Uruguay the Spanish standard

4988-431: The image of a stylised double-headed francisque as part of its iconography (compare fasces ). The francisca is characterized by its distinctly arch-shaped head, widening toward the cutting edge and terminating in a prominent point at both the upper and lower corners. The top of the head is usually either S-shaped or convex with the lower portion curving inward and forming an elbow with the short wooden haft . Sometimes

5074-577: The influential Christian bishop Isidore of Seville ( c.  560–636 ) 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 . Etymologiae covers an encyclopedic range of topics. Etymology ,

5160-501: The internet, in other words, to a T. By the same token, Isidore's work was phenomenally influential throughout the West for 1,000 years, 'a basic book' of the Middle Ages, as one scholar put it, second only to the Bible. Written in simple Latin, it was all a man needed in order to have access to everything he wanted to know about the world but never dared to ask, from the 28 types of common noun to

5246-449: The kingdom through Christianity and education, eradicating the Arian heresy which had been widespread, and led National Councils at Toledo and Seville. Isidore had a close friendship with king Sisebut , who came to the throne in 612, and with another Seville churchman, Braulio , who later became bishop of Saragossa . Isidore was widely read, mainly in Latin with a little Greek and Hebrew. He

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5332-439: The language's speakers. At smaller scales, it may refer to rules shared by smaller groups of speakers. A description, study, or analysis of such rules may also be known as a grammar, or as a grammar book . A reference work describing the grammar of a language is called a reference grammar or simply a grammar . A fully revealed grammar, which describes the grammatical constructions of a particular speech type in great detail

5418-424: The large intestine or colon ( colum ). Book XII covers animals , including small animals, snakes , worms , fish , birds and other beasts that fly. Isidore's treatment is as usual full of conjectural etymology, so a horse is called equus because when in a team of four horses they are balanced ( aequare ). The spider ( aranea ) is so called from the air ( aer ) that feeds it. The electric ray ( torpedo )

5504-462: The largest extant medieval manuscript, contains a copy of the Etymologiae . In 1472 at Augsburg , the Etymologiae became one of the first books to be printed, quickly followed by ten more editions by 1500. Juan de Grial produced the first scholarly edition in Madrid in 1599. Faustino Arevalo included it as two of the 17 volumes of his Opera omnia in Rome (1797–1803). Rudolph Beer produced

5590-474: The letter 'D' begins with the word for master ( Dominus ), as he is the head of a household ( Domus ); the adjective docile ( docilis ) is derived by Isidore from the verb for "to teach" ( docere ), because docile people are able to learn; and the word for abominable ( Nefarius ) is explained as being not worth the grain called spelt ( far ). Book XI covers human beings, portents and transformations. Isidore derives human beings ( homo ) from

5676-402: The level of individual sounds, which, like intonation, are in the domain of phonology. However, no clear line can be drawn between syntax and morphology. Analytic languages use syntax to convey information that is encoded by inflection in synthetic languages . In other words, word order is not significant, and morphology is highly significant in a purely synthetic language, whereas morphology

5762-564: The names of women's outer garments. Today, one internet connection serves precisely the same purpose. Almost 1000 manuscript copies of Etymologiae have survived. The earliest is held at the Abbey library of Saint Gall in Switzerland, a 9th-century copy of Books XI to XX forming part of the Codex Sangallensis . The 13th-century Codex Gigas held in the National Library of Sweden ,

5848-429: The origins of words, is prominent, but the work also covers, among other things, grammar , rhetoric , mathematics, geometry, music, astronomy, medicine, law, the church and heretical sects, pagan philosophers, languages, cities, humans, animals, the physical world, geography, public buildings, roads, metals, rocks, agriculture, war, ships, clothes, food, and tools. Etymologiae was a widely used textbook throughout

5934-416: The patron saint of the internet. It was, indeed, a tempting choice. Isidore's Etymologies , published in 20 books after his death, was an encyclopedia of all human knowledge, glossed with his own derivations of the technical terms relevant to the topic in hand. Derivations apart, it was lifted from sources almost entirely at second or third hand ..., none of it checked, and much of it unconditional eyewash –

6020-418: The same information that Chinese does with syntax. Because Latin words are quite (though not totally) self-contained, an intelligible Latin sentence can be made from elements that are arranged almost arbitrarily. Latin has a complex affixation and simple syntax, whereas Chinese has the opposite. Prescriptive grammar is taught in primary and secondary school. The term "grammar school" historically referred to

6106-434: The sky, just as brides ( nupta ) wear veils for their weddings. The wind is called ventus , as it is angry and violent ( vehemens , violentus ). There are many kinds of water: some water "is salty, some alkaline, some with alum, some sulfuric, some tarry, and some containing a cure for illnesses." There are waters that cure eye injuries, or make voices melodious, or cause madness, or cure infertility. The water of

6192-649: The starting point of modern comparative linguistics , came out in 1833. Frameworks of grammar which seek to give a precise scientific theory of the syntactic rules of grammar and their function have been developed in theoretical linguistics . Other frameworks are based on an innate " universal grammar ", an idea developed by Noam Chomsky . In such models, the object is placed into the verb phrase. The most prominent biologically oriented theories are: Parse trees are commonly used by such frameworks to depict their rules. There are various alternative schemes for some grammar: Grammars evolve through usage . Historically, with

6278-420: The surviving heads of franciscas recovered at Burgh Castle and Morning Thorpe in county Norfolk , England, the length of the head itself measured 14–15 cm (5.5–5.9 in) from the edge to the back of the socket. The Byzantine historian Procopius (c. 500–565) described the Franks and their use of throwing axes: ...each man carried a sword and shield and an axe. Now the iron head of this weapon

6364-434: The theatre, comedy, tragedy, mime and dance are covered. In the amphitheatre, Isidore covers those who fight with nets, nooses and other weapons. Book XIX covers ships including boats, sails, ropes and nets; forges and tools; building, including walls, decorations, ceilings, mosaics, statues, and building tools; and clothes, including types of dress, cloaks, bedding, tools, rings, belts and shoes. The word "net" ( rete ),

6450-563: The view of John T. Hamilton, writing in The Classical Tradition in 2010, "Our knowledge of ancient and early medieval thought owes an enormous amount to this encyclopedia, a reflective catalogue of received wisdom, which the authors of the only complete translation into English introduce as "arguably the most influential book, after the Bible, in the learned world of the Latin West for nearly a thousand years" These days, of course, Isidore and his Etymologies are anything but household names... but

6536-484: The word for letters ( littera ) from the Latin words for "to read" ( legere ) and 'road' ( iter ), "as if the term were legitera ", arguing that letters offer a road for people who read. Book II completes the medieval Trivium with coverage of rhetoric and dialectic . Isidore describes what rhetoric is, kinds of argument, maxims, elocution, ways of speaking, and figures of speech. On dialectic, he discusses philosophy, syllogisms, and definitions. He equates

6622-645: The word medicine from the Latin for "moderation" ( modus ), and " sciatica " ( sciasis ) from the affected part of the body, the hip (Greek ἰσχία ischia ). Book V covers law and chronology . Isidore distinguishes natural, civil, international, military and public law among others. He discusses the purpose of law, legal cases, witnesses, offences and penalties. On chronology, Isidore covers periods of time such as days, weeks, and months, solstices and equinoxes, seasons, special years such as Olympiads and Jubilees, generations and ages. In Book VI , Isidore describes ecclesiastical books and offices starting with

6708-540: The words graphics , grapheme , and photograph . The first systematic grammar of Sanskrit originated in Iron Age India , with Yaska (6th century BC), Pāṇini (6th–5th century BC ) and his commentators Pingala ( c.  200 BC ), Katyayana , and Patanjali (2nd century BC). Tolkāppiyam , the earliest Tamil grammar, is mostly dated to before the 5th century AD. The Babylonians also made some early attempts at language description. Grammar appeared as

6794-577: The work's importance in preserving both classical texts, as well as insight into the medieval mindset. Isidore of Seville was born around 560 in Cartagena , which was under the unstable rule of the Visigoths after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West. His older brother, Leander, the abbot of a Seville monastery, supervised Isidore's education, probably in the school attached to his monastery. Leander

6880-426: The work. An idea of the quality of Isidore's etymological knowledge is given by Peter Jones: "Now we know most of his derivations are total nonsense (eg, he derives baculus , 'walking-stick', from Bacchus , god of drink, because you need one to walk straight after sinking a few)". The work covers many of the subjects of ancient learning, from theology to the construction and provenance of furniture, and provides

6966-445: Was a powerful priest, a friend of Pope Gregory, and eventually he became bishop of Seville. Leander also made friends with the Visigothic king's sons, Hermenigild and Reccared. In 586, Reccared became king, and in 587 he converted to Catholicism under Leander's religious direction, and consequently controlled the appointment of bishops. Reccared died in 601, not long after appointing Isidore as bishop of Seville. Isidore helped to unify

7052-561: Was able to revise and issue it with a dedication to the late Visigothic king Sisebut . The Etymologies organizes knowledge, mainly drawn from the classics, into twenty books: In Book I , Isidore begins with a lengthy section on grammar, the first of three subjects in the mediaeval Trivium considered at the time the core of essential knowledge. He covers the letters of the alphabet, parts of speech, accents, punctuation and other marks, shorthand and abbreviations, writing in cipher and sign language, types of mistake and histories. He derives

7138-625: Was based on the Code of Theodosius , which Isidore never saw. Through Isidore's condensed paraphrase a third-hand memory of Roman law passed to the Early Middle Ages. Lactantius is the author most extensively quoted in Book XI, concerning man. Books XII, XIII and XIV are largely based on the Natural History and Solinus, whereas the lost Prata of Suetonius , which can be partly pieced together from what

7224-512: Was coming. Some sources, strangely, describe the Francisca as both the "main weapons" of the Frankish infantry around the time of Clovis. These sources also describe the Francisca as being a fierce melee weapon. Etymologiae Etymologiae ( Latin for 'Etymologies'), also known as the Origines ('Origins'), usually abbreviated Orig. , is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by

7310-439: Was familiar with the works of both the church fathers and pagan writers such as Martial , Cicero and Pliny the Elder, this last the author of the major encyclopaedia then in existence, the Natural History . The classical encyclopedists had already introduced alphabetic ordering of topics, and a literary rather than observational approach to knowledge: Isidore followed those traditions. Isidore became well known in his lifetime as

7396-466: Was thick and exceedingly sharp on both sides while the wooden handle was very short. And they are accustomed always to throw these axes at one signal in the first charge and thus shatter the shields of the enemy and kill the men. Procopius makes it clear that the Franks threw their axes immediately before hand-to-hand combat with the purpose of breaking shields and disrupting the enemy line while possibly wounding or killing an enemy warrior . The weight of

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