560-636

Spanish theologian and encyclopedist who is considered the last of the Western Latin Fathers. Isidore's Etymologiae sive Originens, an encyclopaedia of human and divine subjects, was considered an important reference book throughout the Middle Ages. The Etymologiae covers the liberal arts and medicine, the Bible and the Church, agriculture, warfare, shipping, and so forth. The etymological section is considered one of the first important landmarks in glossography, the compilation of glossaries. Isidore's other writings included linguistic studies, natural science, cosmology, history, biography, and theology. Isidore was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1598.