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Homo is so named because he is made of humus (earth), as it is told in Genesis: “Et creavit Deus hominem de humo terrae.”

— Isidore of Seville

Homo dictus, quia ex humo est factus, sicut [et] in Genesi dicitur (2,7): 'Et creavit Deus hominem de humo terrae.

Original text (Latin)

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Notes from Wikiquote

On w:creation of life from clay (creation of life from earth).

More quotes by Isidore of Seville

Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear.

And without music there can be no perfect knowledge, for there is nothing without it. For even the universe itself is said to have been put together with a certain harmony of sounds, and the very heavens revolve under the guidance of harmony.

For brothers who pass from this life, before they are buried, a sacrifice should be offered to the Lord for the remission of their sins.

Through idleness, lusts and harmful thoughts grow, but through the exercise of labor, vices are likewise diminished.

Many creatures go through a natural change and by decay pass into different forms, as bees [are formed] by the decaying flesh of calves, as beetles from horses, locusts from mules, scorpions from crabs.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Isidore of Seville (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.