Folio 81r - the nature of man, continued.
from which all things spring. For the Greek word for 'earth' is ge.
Life, vita, is so called from vigor, 'active power', or because it has within it the force of birth and growth. As a result, trees are said to have life, because they spring from the earth and grow.
Man, homo, is so called because he is made from the soil, humus, as it says in the book of Genesis: 'And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground' (2:7).
It is said incorrectly that man in his entirety is formed from two substances, that is, from the union of a soul and a body. Strictly speaking, man, homo, comes from soil, humus.
The Greek word for man is antropos [anthropos], because he looks upwards, raised up from the ground to contemplate his creator. This is what the poet Ovid means, when he says: 'And though other animals are prone and fix
