[p. 175] came to meet them with a great blast of air, and piling upon them mountainous heaps of sand, buried them all with their entire forces and arms. Through this act the Psylli all perished to a man, and accordingly their territories were occupied by the Nasamones.
XII
[12arg] Of those words which Cloatius Verus referred to a Greek origin, either quite fittingly or too absurdly and tastelessly.CLOATIUS VERUS, in the books which he entitled Words taken from the Greek, says not a few things indeed which show careful and keen investigation, but also some which are foolish and trifling. “Errare (to err),” he says, 1 “is derived from the Greek ἔρρειν,” and he quotes a line of Homer in which that word occurs: 2 Swift wander (ἔρρει) from the isle, most wretched man. Cloatius also wrote that alucinari, or “dream,” is derived from the Greek ἀλύειν, or “be distraught,” and from this he thinks that the word elucus also is taken, with a change of a to e, meaning a certain sluggishness and stupidity of mind, which commonly comes to dreamy folk. He also derives fascinum, or “charm,” as if it were bascanum, 3 and fascinare, as if it were bascinare, 4 or “bewitch.” All these are fitting and proper enough. But in his fourth book he says: 5 “Faenerator is equivalent to ”
