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    Well-written and thorough argument. It all seems to point out to the fact that at the time of writing Etymologiae, Isidore either knew Earth was round or he was not sure, but at a later date he most likely was aware of the spherical nature of the planet. His original encyclopedia might have given the wrong impression to few of the early scholars, but this possible misintrepertation was relatively small-scale and didn't last long. Commented May 17, 2018 at 10:25
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    @A.McMount It's also worth noting that the Etymologiae is an encyclopedic compendium of classical knowledge, so while it was indeed super influential as a standard reference source or a textbook for students, it wasn't an authoritative scientific treatise. So I wouldn't necessarily expect more learned scholars to be misled by it - there were numerous other sources affirming a spherical earth at the time, e.g. Augustine. Commented May 17, 2018 at 12:40
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    A belief that all of the earth's land is concentrated on one half of the Earth would allow the "days" and "nights" of Genesis to be a global phenomenon, since there would be times when no land would be illuminated by daylight. With modern timekeeping and communication, it's possible to determine that for much of the year, the Sun doesn't fully set on the west coast of Europe before it starts to rise in the easternmost parts of Asia, but I don't think anyone could have proven that before the invention of the chronometer. Commented May 17, 2018 at 21:48
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    Regarding Isidore, you can see also T and O map : "The T-O map represents the physical world as first described by the 7th-century scholar Isidore of Seville in his Etymologiae (chapter 14, de terra et partibus).Although Isidore taught in the Etymologiae that the Earth was "round", his meaning was ambiguous and some writers think he referred to a disc-shaped Earth. However, other writings by Isidore make it clear that he considered the Earth to be globular." 1/2 Commented May 18, 2018 at 13:34
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    The ref is to Wesley Stevens, The Figure of the Earth in Isidore's 'De natura rerum', Isis (1980). Commented May 18, 2018 at 13:37