Chapter 29: On etymology

1. Etymology is the derivation of words,[186] when the force of a verb or a noun is ascertained through interpretation. This Aristotle called σύμβολον, and Cicero, _notatio_, because it explains the names of things;[187] as, for example, _flumen_ is so called from _fluere_, because it arose from flowing.

[186] _Cf. Quintilian_, 1, 6, 28.

[187] Quia nomina et verba rerum nota facit.

2. A knowledge of etymology is often necessary in interpretation, for, when you see whence a name has come, you grasp its force more quickly. For every consideration of a thing is clearer when its etymology is known. Not all names, however, were given by the ancients in accordance with nature, but certain also according to whim, just as we sometimes give slaves and estates names according to our fancy.

3. Hence it is that the etymologies of some names are not found, since certain things have received their name not according to the quality in which they originated, but according to man’s arbitrary choice. Etymologies are given in accordance with cause, as _reges_ from _regere_, that is, _recte agere_; or origin, as _homo_ because he is from the earth (_humus_); or from contraries, as _lutum_ (mud) from _lavare_—since mud is not clean—and _lucus_ (sacred grove), because being shady it has little light (_parum luceat_).

4. Certain words also were formed by derivation from other words; as _prudens_ from _prudentia_. Certain also from cries, as _graculus_ (jackdaw) from _garrulitas_. Certain also have sprung from a Greek origin, and have changed over into the Latin, as _silva_,[188] _domus_.

[188] _Cf._ 17, 6, 5, where _silva_ (_xilva_) is derived from
ξύλον (wood).

5. Other things have derived their names from the names of places, cities, or rivers. Many also are drawn from the languages of foreign peoples; whence their derivation is perceived with difficulty; for there are many barbarous words unknown to the Greeks and Latins.

Chapter 32. On barbarism.

1. Barbarism is the uttering of a word with an error in a letter or in a quantity: a letter, as _floriet_, when _florebit_ is correct; a quantity, if the first syllable is prolonged instead of the middle one, as _latebrae_, _tenebrae_. And it is called barbarism from the barbarian peoples, since they were ignorant of the purity of Latin speech; for each nation becoming subject to the Romans, transmitted to Rome along with their wealth their faults, both of speech and of morals.