selected from Etymologiae Books IX and XIV

Isidore's Etymologiae carried late antique geography, biblical ethnology, and inherited classical notices into the medieval Latin encyclopedic tradition.

The selected passages below gather Isidore's notices on Scythians, Sarmatians, Massagetae, Amazons, Huns, Goths, Alans, Bactrians, Parthians, Seres, Scythia, Maeotis, Albania, Hyrcania, the Caucasus, Thrace, Lower Scythia, and the Hyperborean mountains.

The English is a Good Works Translation from the Latin passages printed below.

Translation

Book IX.2 -- Names of Peoples

The posterity of Arphaxad, son of Shem: Heber was grandson of Arphaxad, from whom the Hebrews come; Joktan was son of Heber, from whom the people of the Indians arose; Sale was son of Joktan, from whom the Bactrians come, although others suspect that they were exiles from the Scythians.

Magog: from him they think the Scythians and Goths drew their origin.

The sons of Gomer, grandsons of Japheth: Ashkenaz, from whom come the Sarmatians, whom the Greeks call Rhegini.

The Seres took their name from their own town. They are a people placed toward the East, among whom wool is woven from trees. From them comes the line:

Unknown in face, but known by fleece, the Seres.

The Bactrians were Scythians who, driven from their seats by a faction among their own people, settled beside the Bactrus, a river of the East, and from its name received their name. The king of this people was Zoroaster, inventor of the magical art.

The Parthians too draw their origin from the Scythians. For they were their exiles, and this is shown also by their name. In the Scythian language, exiles are called "Parthi." These men, like the Bactrians, were driven from Scythia by domestic seditions. First they secretly occupied deserts beside Hyrcania, then by courage they also obtained most of the neighboring territories.

The Persian boundary which divides the Scythians from them is called Scytha; from this boundary some say the Scythians were named, a people always held to be most ancient. They founded the Parthians and Bactrians; their women founded the kingdoms of the Amazons.

The Massagetae are from Scythian origin. They are called Massagetae as if "heavy," that is, strong Getae; for Livy calls heavy silver "massae." They are the people who dwell in northern places between the Scythians and Albanians.

The Amazons are so called either because they lived together without men, as if ama zon, or because their right breasts were burned so that the shot of arrows would not be impeded, as if aneu mazon. They exposed the breast which they had burned. Titianus calls them Unimammas, one-breasted women. For this is Amazon, as if aneu mazou, that is, without a breast. They no longer exist, because some of them were destroyed by Hercules, some by Achilles or Alexander, even to extermination.

In the parts of Asian Scythia are peoples who believe themselves descendants of Jason. They are born with white hair from continual snows, and the very color of their hair gave the people its name. From this they are called Albani. They have in their eyes a pale-blue, that is, colored pupil, so that they see more by night than by day. The Albani were neighbors of the Amazons.

The Hugni, previously called Huns and afterward Avars from their king, first lived in the farthest Maeotis between the frozen Tanais and the monstrous peoples of the Massagetae. Then, on swift horses, through the cliffs of Caucasus, while Alexander's barriers held back savage peoples, they burst out and held the East captive for twenty years, and exacted yearly tribute from Egyptians and Ethiopians.

The Goths are thought to have been named from Magog, son of Japheth, from the likeness of the last syllable. The ancients called them Getae rather than Goths: a strong and very powerful people, great in body size and terrible in kind of arms. About them Lucan says:

From here let the Dacian press, from there the Getan meet the Iberians.

The Dacians were offspring of the Goths, and they think they are called Dacians as if "Dagi," because they were created from Gothic stock. About them Paulinus says:

You will go far away to the northern Dacians.

The Sarmatians rode armed over open plains before Lentulus kept them from the Danube. From this zeal for arms they are thought to have been named Sarmatians.

The river Lanus is said to be beyond the Danube. From it the Alans are named, just as the Alemanni are so called from the people living beside the river Lemannus. About them Lucan says:

They deserted their tents fixed on hollow Lemannus.

Book XIV.3 -- Asia

Seres is a town of the East, from which both the silken people and the region are named. This region bends from the Scythian Ocean and the Caspian Sea to the eastern Ocean, fertile in noble leaves from which fleeces are plucked, which the Seres sell to the other peoples for the use of clothing.

The proper river of the region of Bactria, the Bactrus, gave it its name. The parts of it which lie behind are surrounded by the ridges of the Paropanisus; those facing forward are bounded by the springs of the river Indus; the rest is enclosed by the river Ochus. Bactria sends out very strong camels, whose feet are never worn down.

Scythia, like Gothia, is said to have been named from Magog, son of Japheth. Its land was once immense; for from the east, India, and from the north, through the Maeotian marshes between the Danube and Ocean, it stretched as far as the borders of Germany. Later it became smaller: from the right side of the East, where the Seric Ocean extends, as far as the Caspian Sea which is toward sunset; then from the south it was drawn down to the Caucasian ridge, beneath which lies Hyrcania from the west, having at the same time many peoples wandering widely because of the barrenness of the lands.

Of these peoples, some inhabit fields; some, monstrous and fierce, live on human flesh and blood. There are many rich lands of Scythia, yet many are uninhabitable. For while in many places they abound in gold and gems, because of the savagery of griffins human access is rare. The best emeralds have this country as their homeland; the blue stone and the purest crystal too belong to Scythia. It also has great rivers: the Moschi, the Phasis, and the Araxes.

Hyrcania is named from the Hyrcanian forest, which lies beneath Scythia. It has the Caspian Sea on the east, Armenia on the south, Albania on the north, and Iberia on the west. It is rough with forests and abundant in monstrous wild beasts: tigers, panthers, and leopards. About it Virgil says:

Hyrcanian tigresses brought their udders near.

Albania is named from the color of its people, because they are born with white hair. Rising from the east below the Caspian Sea, it stretches through the shores of the northern Ocean as far as the Maeotian marshes through deserted and uncultivated lands. This land has huge dogs, of such fierceness that they press down bulls and kill lions.

This land, placed at the head of Syria, touches Armenia on the east and Asia Minor on the west. On the north are the Cimmerian sea and the Themiscyrian plains which the Amazons held; on the south is Mount Taurus, beneath which lie Cilicia and Isauria as far as the Cilician gulf, which looks toward the island Cyprus. Its land is before others a nourisher of horses. The river Halys flows through it, which once divided the kingdoms of Lydia from the Persians.

Book XIV.4 -- Europe

Europe, divided as the third part of the world, begins from the river Tanais and descends toward sunset through the northern Ocean as far as the borders of Spain. Its eastern and southern part, rising from Pontus, is joined throughout to the Great Sea, and ends at the islands Gades.

The first region of Europe is Lower Scythia, beginning from the Maeotian marshes and stretching between the Danube and the northern Ocean as far as Germany. This land, generally because of the barbarian peoples by whom it is inhabited, is called Barbarica. Its first part is Alania, which reaches to the Maeotian marshes; after this Dacia, where Gothia also is; then Germany, where the Suebi inhabited the greater part.

Germany after Lower Scythia is enclosed from the Danube between the river Rhine and Ocean. It is surrounded on the north and west by Ocean; on the east by the Danube; on the south it is divided by the river Rhine. The land is rich in men and in numerous and monstrous peoples. From its fertility in producing peoples it is called Germany. It produces Hyrcanian birds, whose feathers shine by night; it also brings forth bison, wild aurochs, and elk. It sends out gems, crystal and amber, green callaicum too, and white ceraunium. There are two Germanies: the upper beside the northern Ocean, the lower around the Rhine.

The provinces which the Danube separates from Barbaricum toward the Mediterranean Sea are these: first Moesia, called from the production of harvests; for this reason the ancients called it the granary of Ceres. On the east it is joined to the mouths of the Danube; on the southeast to Thrace; on the south to Macedonia; on the west to Histria. After Moesia is Pannonia. Then comes the Norican field, cold and less fruitful. After it Raetia, fertile in crops, receives Belgic Gaul.

Thrace is said to have been named from Thiras, son of Japheth, who came there; others have said Thrace was named from the savagery of its inhabitants. On the east the Propontis and the city Constantinople are set opposite it; on the north the Ister is stretched before it; on the south it clings to the Aegean Sea; on the west Macedonia lies beneath it. Its region was once inhabited by the people of the Bessi, the Massagetae, Sarmatians, Scythians, and many other nations; for it is broad, and therefore contained many peoples. Thrace sends out the river Hebrus, which also touches many peoples of barbarians.

Book XIV.8 -- Mountains and Other Names of the Earth

Mount Caucasus, stretched from India as far as Taurus, goes in every direction with different names according to the variety of peoples and languages. Where it rises in the east to a higher height, it is called Caucasus from the whiteness of its snows. For in an eastern language "caucasus" means white, that is, made white with very thick snows. From this the Scythians, who are joined to that mountain, called it Croacasis; for among them "casim" means brightness or snow.

The Hyperborean mountains are mountains of Scythia, called so because above, that is beyond, them Boreas blows.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from selected Latin passages of Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae, Books IX and XIV.

The English translation is independently derived from the Latin. No modern English translation was used as the base text.

Compiled for the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Latin

ISIDORI HISPALENSIS EPISCOPI ETYMOLOGIARUM SIVE ORIGINUM



LIBER IX, II. DE GENTIVM VOCABVLIS



[5] Posteritas Arphaxat filii Sem; Heber nepos Arphaxat, a quo Hebraei; Iectam filius Heber, a quo Indorum orta est gens; Sale filius Iectam, a quo Bactriani, licet eos alii Scytharum exules suspicantur.

[27] Magog, a quo arbitrantur Scythas et Gothos traxisse originem.

[32] Filii Gomer, nepotes Iaphet. Aschanaz, a quo Sarmatae, quos Graeci Rheginos vocant.

[40] Seres a proprio oppido nomen sortiti sunt, gens ad Orientem sita, apud quos de arboribus lana contexitur. De quibus est illud:

Ignoti facie, sed noti vellere Seres.

[43] Bactriani Scythae fuerunt, qui suorum factione a sedibus suis pulsi iuxta Bactron Orientis fluvium consederunt, ex cuius vocabulo et nomen sortiti. Huius gentis rex fuit Zoroastres, inventor magicae artis.

[44] Parthi quoque et ipsi ab Scythis originem trahunt. Fuerunt enim eorum exules, quod etiam eorum vocabulo manifestatur. Nam Scythico sernione exules 'parthi' dicuntur. Hi, similiter ut Bactriani, domesticis seditionibus Scythia pulsi solitudines iuxta Hircaniam primum furtim occupaverunt, deinde pleraque finium etiam virtute obtinuerunt.

[62] Limes est Persicus, qui Scythas ab eis dividit, Scytha cognominatus, a quo limite Scythae a quibusdam perhibentur vocati, gens antiquissima semper habita. Hi Parthos Bactrianosque; feminae autem eorum Amazonum regna condiderunt.

[63] Massagetae ex Scytharum origine sunt. Et dicti Massagetae quasi graves, id est fortes Getae. Nam sic Livius argentum grave dicit, id est massas. Hi sunt, qui inter Scythas atque Albanos septentrionalibus locis inhabitant.

[64] Amazones dictae sunt, seu quod simul viverent sine viris, quasi AMA ZON, sive quod adustis dexterioribus mammis essent, ne sagittarum iactus inpediretur, quasi ANEU MAZON. Nudabant enim quam adusserant mammam. Has Titianus Vnimammas dicit. Nam hoc est Amazon, quasi ANEU MAZOU, id est sine mamma. Has iam non esse, quod earum partim ab Hercule, partim ab Achille vel Alexandro usque ad internicionem deletae sunt.

[65] In partes Asiaticae Scythiae gentes, quae posteros se Iasonis credunt, albo crine nascuntur ab adsiduis nivibus; et ipsius capilli color genti nomen dedit. Et inde dicuntur Albani. Horum glauca oculis, id est picta, inest pupilla, adeo ut nocte plus quam die cernant. Albani autem vicini Amazonum fuerunt.

[66] Hugnos antea Hunnos vocatos, postremo a rege suo Avares appellatos, qui prius in ultima Maeotide inter glacialem Tanaim et Massagetarum inmanes populos habitaverunt. Deinde pernicibus equis Caucasi rupibus, feras gentes Alexandri claustra cohibente, eruperunt, et orientem viginti annis tenuerunt captivum, et ab Aegyptiis atque Aethiopibus annuum vectigal exegerunt.

[89] Gothi a Magog filio Iaphet nominati putantur, de similitudine ultimae syllabae, quos veteres magis Getas quam Gothos vocaverunt; gens fortis et potentissima, corporum mole ardua, armorum genere terribilis. De quibus Lucanus (2,54):

Hinc Dacus premat inde Getes occurrat Iberis.

[90] Daci autem Gothorum soboles fuerunt, et dictos putant Dacos, quasi Dagos, quia de Gothorum stirpe creati sunt. De quibus ille (Paulinus ad Nicetam 17):

Ibis arctoos procul usque Dacos.

[93] Sarmatae patentibus campis armati inequitabant prius quam eos Lentulus Danubio prohiberet; atque inde ob studio armorum Sarmatae nuncupati existimantur.

[94] Lanus fluvius fertur ultra Danubium, a quo Alani dicti sunt, sicut et populi inhabitantes iuxta Lemannum fluvium Alemanni vocantur. De quibus Lucanus (1,396):

Deseruere cavo tentoria fixa Lemanno.



LIBER XIV, III. DE ASIA



[29] Seres oppidum orientis, a quo et genus Sericum et regio nuncupata [est]. Haec ab Scythico Oceano et mari Caspio ad Oceanum orientalem inflectitur, nobilibus frondibus fertilis, e quibus vellera decerpuntur, quae ceterarum gentium Seres ad usum vestium vendunt.

[30] Bactriae regionis proprius amnis Bactros vocabulum dedit. Partes huius quae pone sunt Propanisi iugis ambiuntur, quae adversae sunt Indi fluvii fontibus terminantur; reliqua includit Ochus fluvius. Mittit Bactria fortissimos camelos numquam adterentes pedes.

[31] Scythia sicut et Gothia a Magog filio Iaphet fertur cognominata. Cuius terra olim ingens fuit; nam ab oriente India, a septentrione per paludes Maeotides inter Danubium et Oceanum usque ad Germaniae fines porrigebatur. Postea vero minor effecta, a dextra orientis parte, qua Oceanus Sericus tenditur, usque ad mare Caspium, quod est ad occasum; dehinc a meridie usque ad Caucasi iugum deducta est, cui subiacet Hyrcania ab occasu habens pariter gentes multas, propter terrarum infecunditatem late vagantes.

[32] Ex quibus quaedam agros incolunt, quaedam portentuosae ac truces carnibus humanis et eorum sanguine vivunt. Scythiae plures terrae sunt locupletes, inhabitabiles tamen plures; nam dum in plerisque locis auro et gemmis affluant, gryphorum inmanitate accessus hominum rarus est. Smaragdis autem optimis haec patria est: cyaneus quoque lapis et crystallus purissimus Scythiae est. Habet et flumina magna Moschorum, Phasiden atque Araxen.

[33] Hyrcania dicta a silva Hyrcana, quae Scythiae subiacet, habens ab oriente mare Caspium, a meridie Armeniam, a septentrione Albaniam, ab occasu Iberiam. Est autem silvis aspera, copiosa inmanibus feris, tigribus pantherisque et pardis. De qua Vergilius (Aen. 4,367):

Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres.

[34] Albania a colore populi nuncupata, eo quod alba crine nascantur. Haec ab oriente sub mare Caspium surgens, per ora Oceani septentrionalis usque ad Maeotides paludes per deserta et inculta extenditur. Huic terrae canes ingentes sunt, tantaeque feritatis ut tauros premant, leones perimant.

[37] Haec in capite Syriae sita ab oriente Armeniam tangit, ab occasu Asiam minorem, ab aquilone mare Cimmericum et Themiscyrios campos, quos habuere Amazones; a meridie vero Taurum montem, cui subiacet Cilicia et Isauria usque ad Cilicium sinum, qui spectat contra insulam Cyprum. Terra eius ante alias nutrix equorum. Halys amnis per eam fluit, qui quondam Lydiae regna disiunxit a Persis.



LIBER XIV, IV. DE EVROPA



[2] Europa autem in tertiam partem orbis divisa incipit a flumine Tanai, descendens ad occasum per septentrionalem Oceanum usque in fines Hispaniae; cuius pars orientalis et meridiana a Ponto consurgens, tota mari Magno coniungitur, et in insulas Gades finitur.

[3] Prima Europae regio Scythia inferior, quae a Maeotidis paludibus incipiens inter Danubium et Oceanum septentrionalem usque ad Germaniam porrigitur; quae terra generaliter propter barbaras gentes, quibus inhabitatur, Barbarica dicitur. Huius pars prima Alania est, quae ad Maeotidis paludes pertingit; post hanc Dacia, ubi et Gothia; deinde Germania, ubi plurimam partem Suevi incoluerunt.

[4] Germania post Scythiam inferiorem a Danubio inter Rhenum fluvium Oceanumque conclusa cingitur a septentrione et occasu Oceano, ab ortu vero Danubio, a meridie Rheno flumine dirimitur. Terra dives virum ac populis numerosis et inmanibus; unde et propter fecunditatem gignendorum populorum Germania dicta est. Gignit aves Hyrcanias, quarum pinnae nocte perlucent; bisontes quoque feras et uros atque alces parturit. Mittit et gemmas, crystallum et sucinum, callaicum quoque viridem, et ceraunium candidum. Duae sunt autem Germaniae: superior iuxta septentrionalem Oceanum, inferior circa Rhenum.

[5] Provincias autem quas Danubius a Barbarico ad Mediterraneum mare secludit: prima est Moesia, a messium proventu vocata; unde et eam veteres Cereris horreum nuncupabant. Haec autem ab oriente ostiis Danubii iungitur, ab Euro vero Thraciae, a meridie Macedoniae, ab occasu Histriae copulatur. Post Moesiam autem Pannonia est. Inde Noricus ager frigidus et parcius fructuosus. Post quem Raeticus frugibus ferax, qui excipit Galliam Belgicam.

[6] Thraciae Thiras Iaphet filius veniens nomen dedisse perhibetur: alii a saevitia incolarum Thraciam appellatam dixerunt. Huic ab oriente Propontis et urbs Constantinopolis opposita est, a septentrione vero Ister obtenditur, a meridie vero Aegeo mari adhaeret, ab occasu Macedonia illi subiacet. Cuius regionem olim Bessorum populus Massagetae, Sarmatae, Scythae et aliae plurimae nationes incoluerunt; ampla est enim, ideoque plurimas continuit gentes. Ebrum fluvium Thracia fundit, qui etiam gentes barbarorum plurimas tangit.



LIBER XIV, VIII. DE MONTIBVS CETERISQVE TERRAE VOCABVLIS



[2] Mons Caucasus ab India usque ad Taurum porrectus, pro gentium ac linguarum varietate quoquo versum vadit, diversis nominibus nuncupatur. Vbi autem ad orientem in excelsiorem consurgit sublimitatem, pro nivium candore Caucasus nuncupatur. Nam orientali lingua 'caucasum' significat candidum, id est nivibus densissimis candicantem. Vnde et eum Scythae, qui eidem monti iunguntur, Croacasim vocaverunt. 'Casim' enim apud eos candor sive nix dicitur.

[7] Hyperborei montes Scythiae, dicti quod supra, id est ultra, eos flat Boreas.

Source Colophon

The Latin source body was extracted from the local Isidore source dossier and copied for this translation pass at Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/isidore_scythian_peoples_geography_latin_source_manual77.txt.

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