Early Middle Ages: The Etymologiae

The Early Middle Ages, from the fifth to the tenth century, is often referred to as the “Dark Ages.” In comparison to the flourishing Roman Empire, many did not believe the Middle Ages to be a time of flourishing literacy and culture. However, learned men during this period were interested in the lost texts of the ancients, especially after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Etymologiae (the Etymologies in English, and also known as “Origins”), by Isidore of Seville, is a compilation of important concepts for the “learned world,” whose information was extracted from Greco-Roman, and early Christian worlds (Isidore 3; Introduction). While this text contains a great amount of information for contemporary scholars, the purpose of this paper …show more content…
He denotes that the “seven liberal disciplines” are grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy (39), and their individual value allows for the mastery of the other disciplines. While each discipline has its specifics, all seven liberal disciplines are tied together, and should be properly intertwined in order to be regarded as an educated and respectable man. Etymologiae also articulates that one should be reasonable and moral when investigating the seven liberal disciplines. Furthermore, Isidore differentiates between an educated person, and one that is barbaric and irrational, in order to demonstrate the importance of education in creating a sophisticated society. Other small aspects of medieval society are also manifested as a result of properly educated men, but will only be touched upon …show more content…
Isidore defines barbarism in speech as when a “fault on language appears in prose” (55), or when a single Latin word is corrupted (56). However, he notes that barbarianism in speech is different than when foreign words are brought into Latin (55). The amount of detail Isidore includes on the perfection of disciplines reveals the negative outlook on barbarians, and therefore the importance of properly using knowledge in order to avoid faults. For example, barbarianism can occur in written word and speech. In written word, it appears when one “adds, changes, transposes, or removes a letter in a word or syllable,” while in speaking, barbarianism is prevalent in faults regarding “length, intonation, aspiration, and other ways” (55). Other faults of Grammar, Isidore includes, are solecisms, acarology, cacenphaton, and many more (56). Moreover, Isidore distinguishes between a “rational being” and “irrational, speechless animals that do not have reason” (81). As aforementioned, the pursuit of knowledge involves reason. When man is unreasonable, he is considered an animal, let alone a barbarian. Nevertheless, these kinds of passages denoting faults, and their specifics, shows the importance of avoiding mistakes in order to become a well-educated