This page provides the detailed description of each facets and facet values appearing in the main search window. For a shorter description of the most important new terminology in the database, you can return to the main terminology page.
search: allows you to perform a free text search of all indexed data in the dataset underlying the database. These data include the contents of all fields that are used for faceted search and the textual field of additional observations.
current place: allows you to filter manuscripts based on the city of the current preservation. Since medieval codices may be divided among multiple institution, the numbers associated with this facet is larger than the number of medieval manuscript items (as is true also for the number of data points on the map in the current location viewing mode). At the time of the launch of the beta version of the database, there are 520 separate units recorded under this facet (and on the map), in contrast to the 478 items described in the database.
date of origin: allows you to filter manuscripts by century using the list or make a more precise selection by adjusting the slider.
place of origin: allows you to filter manuscripts based on their place of origin by modern country (modern place) or a medieval location (absolute place). Since manuscripts cannot be always localized precisely, the values you can select include settlements (e.g., Reims), areas (e.g., Bodensee area), and regions (e.g., northern France).
region of origin: allows you to filter manuscripts based on one of 12 regions of origins defined by the database (or if their place of origin not known, labelled as ‘unknown’).
- central Italy
- Continent
- England
- France
- German area
- Ireland
- Italy
- northern France
- northern Italy
- southern France
- southern Italy
- Spain
provenance: allows you to filter manuscripts based on the locations, areas, regions, and manuscript owners associated with a manuscript in the centuries following their production. The provenance is not known in the case of all manuscripts. The current version of the database include a provenance record for 296 manuscripts.
page dimensions: allows you to filter manuscripts based on their page dimensions, which are represented for the purpose of querying and comparison by a single value, the taille (page height + page width). Manuscripts are then assigned to one of nine categories (or if their dimensions are not known, labelled as ‘unknown’). For example, a manuscript with a page of 325 x 210 mm, that is with a taille of 535 mm, would appear in this overview in the category of 500-550 mm. In the case of manuscripts with pages of varying size, the values taken are minimum page height + minimum page width.
layout: allows you to filter manuscripts based on the number of columns on the page. If their layout is not know, they are labelled as ‘unknown’.
physical state: allows you to filter manuscripts whose current state of preservation is noteworthy (and often differs from their medieval design). In particular, one can choose: a) fragments (including palimpsests), b) manuscripts in which the text of the Etymologiae appears as marginalia or additions; c) significantly cropped encyclopaedic copies; d) encyclopaedic copies in multiple volumes; and e) destroyed manuscripts.
etym. transmitted as: allows you to filter manuscripts based on their medieval design (in contrast to the current state of preservation).
- full: an encyclopaedic copy of the Etymologiae;
- single excerpt: transmits a chapter or less than a chapter of the Etymologiae as an isolated unit (e.g., Munich Clm 14746 contains only Etym. 5.34);
- multiple excerpts: transmits several disjoint excerpts (e.g., Paris Lat. 3182 contains Etym. 9.6 on pp. 178-181 and a different excerpt from Etym. 7.5 on p. 304);
- excerpt sequence: transmits several excerpts as a continuous sequence, which, however, is smaller than a book or book section (e.g., Barcelona, Ripoll 106 contains first Etym. 3.7-13 and then Etym. 1.17 on fols. 86v-89r);
- book section: transmits a section of a specific book of the Etymologiae as a self-standing text, wholly or to a significant extent (e.g., Paris Lat. 4408 contains De legibus, the first part of book V);
- book: transmits a book of the Etymologiae as a self-standing text, wholly or to a significant extent (e.g., Leiden, Voss. Lat. O 41 contains book I, De grammatica);
- book sequence: transmits several complete books of the Etymologiae in a sequence next to other longer texts of other authors (e.g. Zurich, Zentralbibliothek, Car. C 102 transmits books VI and VII, as well as the beginning of book VIII, that is the books dealing with God and the Church);
- epitome: transmits a selection of many or all books of the Etymologiae repurposed in such a way as to form an abridgement (e.g., Paris Lat. 1750 transmits such an epitome De diversis rebus on fols. 146v-152r);
- excerpt collection: transmits a selection of some of the books of the Etymologiae, sometimes in combination with a selection from other works of Isidore or other authors, presented in a new order as a novel compilation with a clear incipit and explicit (e.g., Fulda Aa 2 transmits the pastoral collection De catholica ecclesia et eius ministris which reuses material from books VI, VII, and VIII);
- not full: this labels applies to fragments that cannot represent a remnant of an encyclopaedic copy of the Etymologiae but whose transmission format cannot be established more precisely.
books: allows you to filter manuscripts based on whether they currently contain material from a specific section of the Etymologiae. Users can select complete books by clicking on OK, but also individual book chapters and chapter ranges by adjusting the numbers in the windows. A separate exclude full tab included in this facet allows one to remove all manuscripts designed as encyclopaedic copies of the Etymologiae (i.e., query only over manuscripts transmitting the text of the Etymologiae selectively).
manuscript type: allows you to filter manuscripts based on their thematic focus (items whose focus cannot be determined are labelled as ‘unknown’).
- Bible: a manuscript that contains only or mostly the text of the Bible;
- Big Isidore: a manuscript that transmits the canonical Etymologiae;
- Canonical collection: a manuscript that contains only or mostly canon law;
- Classical text: a manuscript that contains only or mostly Classical texts;
- Computus: a manuscript that contains only or mostly computistic texts;
- Exegetical collection: a manuscript that contains only or mostly exegetical texts;
- Glossary: a manuscript that contains only or mostly glossaries;
- Grammatical compendium: a manuscript that contains only or mostly grammatical texts;
- History: a manuscript that contains only or mostly historiographic texts;
- Legal collection: a manuscript that contains only or mostly secular law;
- Mathematical compendium: a manuscript that contains only or mostly texts about arithmetic and geometry, or agrimensores;
- Medical compendium: a manuscript that contains only or mostly medical texts;
- Miscellany: a manuscript without a clear genre profile;
- Musical compendium: a manuscript that contains only or mostly texts about music;
- Pastoral collection: a manuscript that contains only or mostly texts pertaining to the education and the office of clergy (e.g. expositions of baptism, the mass, and the Creed, catechetic texts, and homilies);
- Scientific compendium: a manuscript that contains only or mostly texts about the natural world, which cannot be classified more narrowly as a computistic or mathematical collection;
- Theology: a manuscript that contains only or mostly texts of Patristic and medieval theological writers;
- Tironian notes: a manuscript that contains the Commentarii notarum Tironianum;
- Trivium: a manuscript that contains texts pertaining to the trivium, which cannot be classified more narrowly as a grammatical collection.
author/text/types: allows you to search for manuscripts containing the works of known authors, notable anonymous texts, and short compositions on specific subjects that appear in the same manuscript as the Etymologiae (BUT it does not include texts interpolated into the Etymologiae – for these a separate facet exists, see below). Short anonymous texts, as far as they represent an important part of a manuscript, are identified as:
- grammaticalia: anonymous grammatical treatises or compilations;
- canones: canons that are not transmitted outside of a collection, or a collection that was not widely diffused;
- capitularia: capitularies;
- carmina: anonymous poetry;
- catechetica: anonymous catechetic treatises and compilations;
- computistica: anonymous computistic treatises and compilations;
- excerpta: anonymous excerpt collections;
- exegetica: anonymous exegetical treatises and compilations;
- glossaria: glossaries and other glossographic texts;
- hagiographica: lives of saints;
- medica: anonymous medical treatises and compilations;
- sermones: homilies and sermons.
script: allows you to filter manuscripts based on the main script of the manuscript as provided by the research literature.
fragment: allows you to select manuscript that are or are not fragments.
innovations: allows you to select manuscripts containing notable innovations.
interpolations: allows you to select manuscripts containing or not containing interpolated texts. If ‘yes’ is selected, a secondary menu opens listing the types of interpolations present in the manuscripts of the Etymologiae.
diagrams: allows you to select manuscripts containing or not containing diagrams. If ‘yes’ is selected, a secondary menu opens listing different types of diagrams present in the manuscripts of the Etymologiae.
relations: allows you to select manuscripts having a relationship with another manuscript in the database.
annotations: allows you to select manuscripts containing or not containing annotations. If ‘yes’ is selected, a secondary menu opens listing the manuscripts containing annotations based on the density of annotation.
digitized: allows you to select manuscripts that are digitized.
part larger collection: allows you to select manuscripts in which the material from the Etymologiae appears embedded into a larger collection of material.