Folio 85r - the nature of man, continued.
is placed like a vault over the mouth; the word comes from polus, a pole, or figuratively, the sky. The Greeks call the palate uranus [ouranos], since in its curved shape it resembles the sky.
The throat, fauces, gets its name from the phrase fundere voces, 'to produce sounds', or because we speak, fari, through it.
The windpipes, artherie, are so called because air, that is the breath, aer, is conveyed through them from the lung, or because they keep the vital breath in narrow, artus, confined passages. From these they produce the sounds of the voice. The sounds would be all of one kind if the movements of the tongue did not make them different.
Toles, a word in the Gallic tongue meaning goitre, becomes in common speech, by diminution, toxilli, tonsils, which often swell up in the throat.
The chin is called mentum, or 'coping stone', because the two mandibles begin or are joined together there.
The soft palate, gurgulio, gets its name from guttur, the gullet. Its passage extends to the mouth and nostrils, having within it a channel by which the sounds of the voice are sent to the tongue, so that it can bring them together as words. From this we get the word garrire, to babble.
Next to the windpipe is the oesophagus, rumen, by which we swallow food and drink. Hence animals which regurgitate food and chew it again, are said to ruminate, ruminare.
The epiglottis, sublinguium, is otherwise known as 'the lid' of the windpipe. It is like a little tongue which shuts off the opening at the rear of the tongue from secretions such as phlegm.
The neck, collum, is so called because it is rigid and rounded like a column, columpna, carrying the head and supporting it like a capitol.
The front part is called the throat, gula; the rear, the nape, cervix. The nape, cervix, is so called because the brain, cerebrum, is linked in a straight line through that section to the spinal chord; it is, so to speak, cerebri via, 'the route of the brain'.
The ancients spoke of napes, or necks, in the plural. Hortensius was the first to speak of it in the singular. In fact, cervix in the singular means that specific part of the body. In the plural, it often signifies 'obstinate resistance'. Cicero in his orations against Verres: 'You accuse the praetor. Curb your boldness, cervices' (6,110).
The shoulders humeri,
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Commentary
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Isidore on the mouth and neck.
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Transcription
celum positum est, et inde palatum a palo [PL, polo] per dirivationem.\ Sed et Greci similiter palatum uranum appellant eo quod\ pro sui concavitate celi similitudinem habeat. Fauces a\ fundendis vocibus nominate vel quod per eas famur. Arthe\rie vocate sive quod per eas a pulmone aer hoc est spiritus fertur,\ seu quod artis et angustis meatibus spiritum vitalem retineant.\ Unde vocis sonos emittunt. Qui soni uno modo sonarent, nisi\ lingue motus distantias vocis efficerent. Toles Gallica\ lingua dicuntur, quas vulgo per diminutionem toxillos\ vocant, que in faucibus turgescere solent. Mentum dictum\ quod mandibule inde oriantur, vel quod ibi iungantur.\ Gurgulio a gutture nomen trahit, cuius meatus ad os\ et nares protendit, habens viam qua vox ad linguam trans\mittitur ut possit verba collidere. Unde et garrire di\cimus. Rumen proximum gurgulioni, quo cibus et pocio\ devoratur. Hinc bestie que cibum revocant ac reman\dunt, ruminare dicuntur. Sublinguium vel operculum\ gurgulionis quasi parva lingua que foramen lingue\ recludit a pituita. Collum dictum quod sit rigidum\ et teres ut columpna baiulans caput et sustentans\ quasi capitolium. Cuius anterior pars gula vocatur,\ posterior cervix. Cervix autem vocata, quod per eam par\tem cerebrum ad medullam spine dirigitur quasi cerebri\via. Veteres autem plurali tantum numero cervices di\cebant. Prius Ortensius cervicem singulariter. Cer\ vix autem numero singulari membrum ipsum significat,\ nam pluraliter contumaciam sepe demonstrat. Cicero in\ Verrinis: Pretorem tu accuses frange cervices. Humeri dicti\Translation
is placed like a vault over the mouth; the word comes from polus, a pole, or figuratively, the sky. The Greeks call the palate uranus [ouranos], since in its curved shape it resembles the sky. The throat, fauces, gets its name from the phrase fundere voces, 'to produce sounds', or because we speak, fari, through it. The windpipes, artherie, are so called because air, that is the breath, aer, is conveyed through them from the lung, or because they keep the vital breath in narrow, artus, confined passages. From these they produce the sounds of the voice. The sounds would be all of one kind if the movements of the tongue did not make them different. Toles, a word in the Gallic tongue meaning goitre, becomes in common speech, by diminution, toxilli, tonsils, which often swell up in the throat. The chin is called mentum, or 'coping stone', because the two mandibles begin or are joined together there. The soft palate, gurgulio, gets its name from guttur, the gullet. Its passage extends to the mouth and nostrils, having within it a channel by which the sounds of the voice are sent to the tongue, so that it can bring them together as words. From this we get the word garrire, to babble. Next to the windpipe is the oesophagus, rumen, by which we swallow food and drink. Hence animals which regurgitate food and chew it again, are said to ruminate, ruminare. The epiglottis, sublinguium, is otherwise known as 'the lid' of the windpipe. It is like a little tongue which shuts off the opening at the rear of the tongue from secretions such as phlegm. The neck, collum, is so called because it is rigid and rounded like a column, columpna, carrying the head and supporting it like a capitol. The front part is called the throat, gula; the rear, the nape, cervix. The nape, cervix, is so called because the brain, cerebrum, is linked in a straight line through that section to the spinal chord; it is, so to speak, cerebri via, 'the route of the brain'. The ancients spoke of napes, or necks, in the plural. Hortensius was the first to speak of it in the singular. In fact, cervix in the singular means that specific part of the body. In the plural, it often signifies 'obstinate resistance'. Cicero in his orations against Verres: 'You accuse the praetor. Curb your boldness, cervices' (6,110). The shoulders humeri,
