"
A volcano, properly so called, exists only where a permanent connection is
established between the interior of the earth and the atmosphere, and the
reaction of the interior on the surface then continues during long periods
of time. It may be interrupted for centuries, as in the case of Vesuvius
Fisove,* and then manifest itself with renewed activity.
[footnote] *Ocre Fisove (Mons Vesuvius) in the Umbrian language. (Lassen
'Deutung der Eugubinischen Tafeln in Rhein. Museum', 1832, s. 387.) The
word 'ochre' is very probaby genuine Umbrian, and means, according to
Festus, 'mountain'. Aetna would be a burning and shining mountain, if Voss
is correct in stating that [Greek work] is an Hellenic sound, and is
connected with [Greed word] and [Greek word]; but the intelligent writer
Parthey doubts this Hellenic origin on etymological grounds, and also
because etna was by no means regarded as a luminous beacon for ships or
wanderers, in the same manner as the ever-travailing Stromboli (Strongyle),
to which Homer seems to refer in the Odyssey (xii., 68, 202, and 219), and
its geographical position was not so well determined. I suspect that tna
would be found to be a Sicilian word, if we had any fragmentary materials to
refer to.
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