Music

“1. Music (musica) is the practical knowledge of modulation (modulatio) and consists of sound and song. Music is so called through derivation from the word ‘Muse,’ for the Muses (Musae) were named from, that is, from ‘seeking’, 18 because it was through them, as the ancients would have it, that the power of song and the modulation of the voice were sought. 2. Their sound, because it is something perceived by the senses, vanishes as the moment passes and is imprinted in the memory. Whence came the invention of the poets that the Muses are the daughters of Jupiter and Memory, for unless sounds are held by the memory of man, they perish, because they cannot be written down.” –St. Isidore of Seville (The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, III.xiv)

“Music” takes its name from the word “water,” or aqua because no euphony, that is, pleasant sound, is possible without moisture.” ––Hugh of St. Victor (Didascion, II.8)