Johannes Goropius Becanus

Johannes Goropius Becanus

Johannes Goropius Becanus (1519-1572) was a Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist. He was born Jan Gerartsen in the town of Gorp, situated in the municipality of Hilvarenbeek. As was the fashion of the time, Gerartsen adopted a latinized surname based on the name of his birthplace, "Goropius" being rendered from "Van Gorp"' and "Becanus" referring to "Hilvarenbeek."

He studied medicine in Leuven, and became physician to two sisters of Charles V: Marie and Eleonore, who were based in Brussels at the time. Philip II, the son of Charles V, wanted him also as his doctor and offered him a rich income. Goropius refused and established himself as "medicus" (town doctor) of Antwerp in 1554. Here, free of courtly intrigues, Goropius dedicated himself completely to the study of languages.

Goropius dedicated himself to studying antiquity during this time, and became fluent in many languages. Goropius theorized that Antwerpian Flemish, or Brabantic, spoken in the region between the Scheldt and Meuse Rivers, was the original language spoken in Paradise. Goropius believed that the most ancient language on Earth would be the simplest language, and that the simplest language would contain mostly short words. Since the number of short words is higher in Brabantic than it is in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, Goropius reasoned that it was the older language.

A corollary of this theory was that all languages derived ultimately from Brabantic. The Latin word for “oak,” "quercus", Goropius derived from "werd-cou" (“keeps out cold”); the Hebrew name “Noah” he derived from "nood" (“need”). Goropius also believed that Adam and Eve were Brabantic names (from "Hath-Dam", or “dam against hate"; and "Eu-Vat", “barrel from which people originated,” or from "Eet-Vat", “oath-barrel,” respectively). Another corollary was the placement of the Garden of Eden itself in the Brabant region. In the book known as "Hieroglyphica", Goropius also proved to his satisfaction that Egyptian hieroglyphics represented Brabantic.

There is an allusion to this theory in Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist", where one character speaks of planks written on by Adam "in High Dutch: which proves it was the original tongue".

In spite of his extensive travels in Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Britain, Goropius remained attached to his homeland, and reported on various curiosities and customs from his native region. In his "Origines Antwerpianae" (1569), a treatise describing the antiquities of Antwerp, Goropius reports various curiosities, among them that a youth almost nine feet tall and a woman about ten feet tall lived near his home. He also reports that Ters, a deity who seems to have been an equivalent of Priapus, was invoked by Antwerpian women when they were taken by surprise or sudden fear, and that there was a house in Antwerp adjoining the prison that bore a statue which had been furnished with a large worn away phallus.

Goropius died in Maastricht.

Legacy

Christoffel Plantijn had been a friend of Goropius' and the Antwerp-based printing house known as the Plantin Press, which first published Goropius' works in 1569, printed the linguist-physician’s posthumous collected work in 1580 as a massive volume of more than a thousand pages. Goropius' work was met with a mixture of ridicule and admiration. Goropius is considered to have given Dutch linguistics, and Gothic philology in general, a bad name. Though Goropius had admirers (among them Abraham Ortelius and Richard Hakluyt), his etymologies have been considered "linguistic chauvinism," and Leibniz coined the term "goropism" to mean "absurd etymology." Justus Lipsius and Hugo Grotius discounted Goropius’ linguistic theories. "Never have I read greater nonsense," the scholar Joseph Scaliger wrote of Goropius' etymologies.

However, Goropius’ work precedes that of William Jones, the “discoverer” of the Indo-European language family, and though replete with eccentric and ridiculous etymologies, nevertheless can be considered a foundation for the field of historical linguistics.

ources

*nl icon [http://www.cubra.nl/edschildersboekencolumn/051204becanusvandersijs.htm Eerherstel voor Goropius Becanus door Nicoline van der Sijs]
*en icon [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mindusscript.html How come we can't decipher the Indus script?] "(Straight Dope article containing reference to Goropius)"
*nl icon [http://www.cubra.nl/brabantslandschap/inhoudhetparadijsvangoropiusbecanus.htm Cultureel Brabant]
*la icon cite book | url = http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/adam/adam2/s222.html | title = Vitae | author = Melchior Adam | year = 1615–1620 | pages = 190–192


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bécan (humaniste) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Bécan. Bécan, de son nom latinisé complet Johannes Goropius Becanus, né Jan Gerartsen van Gorp à Gorp, 23 juin 1519 et mort à Maastricht, 28 juin 1572), est un humaniste et médecin qui a publié nombre de livres… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Library of Sir Thomas Browne — No single document gives better evidence of the erudition of Sir Thomas Browne, physician, philosopher and encyclopedist than the 1711 Sales Auction Catalogue of the Library of Sir Thomas Browne . It also provides an insight into the… …   Wikipedia

  • List of people from Antwerp — This is a list of notable people from Antwerp, who were either born in Antwerp, or spent part of their life there. Self Portrait, by Anthony Van Dyck Contents 1 …   Wikipedia

  • Liste der Renaissance-Humanisten — Diese Liste der Renaissance Humanisten erfasst in chronologischer Anordnung nach dem Geburtsjahr Persönlichkeiten des Renaissance Humanismus: Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Geboren nach 1300 2 Geboren nach 1350 3 Geboren nach 1400 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • 1572 in literature — Events*The Act of 1572 that amends the Elizabethan Poor Law classifies actors as vagabonds mdash; unless they enjoy noble patronage. With patronage, however, the actors are more secure from local interference than previously, allowing the famous… …   Wikipedia

  • Renaissance humanism — was a European intellectual movement beginning in Florence in the last decades of the 14th century. The humanist movement developed from the rediscovery by European scholars of many Latin and Greek texts. Initially, a humanist was simply a… …   Wikipedia

  • Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn — Marcus van Boxhorn Marcus Zuërius van Boxhorn (auch Marcus Suerius Boxhorn; * 28. August 1612 oder 1602 in Bergen op Zoom; † 3. Oktober 1653 in Leiden) war ein niederländischer Gelehrter und Professor für Eloquenz. Boxhorn besuchte die Schulen in …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Folk etymology — This article is about a technical term in linguistics. For incorrect popular etymologies, see false etymology. Folk etymology is change in a word or phrase over time resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familiar… …   Wikipedia

  • Rosetta Stone — For other uses, see Rosetta Stone (disambiguation). The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian granodiorite stele …   Wikipedia

  • 1519 — Year 1519 (MDXIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. January July * March 4 Hernán Cortés lands in Mexico (Quetzalcoatl promised to return this year). * June 28 Charles II of Spain …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”