Johannes Goropius Becanus (1519-1572), Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist. Born Jan Gerartsen in the town of Gorp, situated in the municipality of Hilvarenbeek (hence the Latinized surname Goropius Becanus), 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. Events March 4 - Hernán Cortés lands in Mexico. ... Events January 16 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England. ... Leuven in 2004 Leuven (Louvain in French, Löwen in German) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, of which it is the capital. ... Charles V Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V (Spanish: Carlos V) (24 February 1500–21 September 1558) was effectively (the first) King of Spain from 1516 to 1556 (in principle, he was from 1516 king of Aragon and from 1516 guardian of his insane mother, queen of... Emblem of the Brussels-Capital Region Flag of The City of Brussels Brussels (Dutch: Brussel, French: Bruxelles, German: Brüssel) is the capital of Belgium and is considered by many to be the de facto capital of the European Union, as two of its three main institutions have their headquarters... Philip II of Spain (Spanish: Felipe II) - (May 21, 1527 – September 13, 1598), the first King of Spain understood as the whole peninsula of Hispania (r. ... The Cathedral of our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp)in the Handschoenmarkt, in the old part of Antwerp is the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and is home to a number of triptychs by the Belgian painter, Rubens. ... Events February 12 - After claiming the throne of England the previous year, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason alongside her husband. ...

Johannes Goropius Becanus

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. Brabantian is a dialect of the Dutch language spoken in Noord-Brabant and in the Belgian provinces of Antwerpen and Vlaams-Brabant. ... The Scheldt in Antwerp Length 350 km Elevation of the source 95 m Average discharge 120 m³/s Area watershed 21860 km² Origin France Mouth Westerschelde Basin countries France, Belgium, Netherlands The Scheldt (Dutch: Schelde, French lEscaut) is a 350 km[1] (217 mile) long river that finds its... Meuse is a département in northeast France, named after the Meuse River. ... Latin is the language that was originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ...

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. God creates Adam, by Michelangelo. ... This article is about the Biblical location. ... Hieroglyphs are a system of writing used by the Ancient Egyptians, using a combination of logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements. ... Brabantian is a dialect of the Dutch language spoken in Noord-Brabant and in the Belgian provinces of Antwerpen and Vlaams-Brabant. ...

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. Events January 11 - First recorded lottery in England. ... Bronze sculpture, House of the Vettii, Pompeii In Greek mythology, Priapus was a fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. ... The phallus usually refers to the male penis, or sex organ. ...

Goropius died in Maastricht. Maastricht, also spelled Maestricht, or Mestreech in local language, is a municipality, and capital of the province of Limburg. ...

Legacy

The Antwerp-based printing house known as Plantijn-Moretus, 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. Events January 11 - First recorded lottery in England. ... Events March 1 - Michel de Montaigne signs the preface to his most significant work, Essays. ... Abraham Ortelius. ... Richard Hakluyt (~1552 - November 23, 1616) was an English writer, famous for his Voyages which provided William Shakespeare and others with material. ... Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (July 1, 1646 in Leipzig - November 14, 1716 in Hannover) was a German philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer of Sorb descent. ... Justus Lipsius, Joost Lips or Josse Lips (October 18, 1547 — March 23, 1606), was a Flemish philologian and humanist. ... Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius (Huig de Groot, or Hugo de Groot; 10th April 1583 - 28th August 1645) worked as a jurist in the Dutch Republic and laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law. ... Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609) was the tenth child and third son of Julius Caesar Scaliger and Andiette de Roques Lobejac. ... Sir William Jones (September 28, 1746 - April 27, 1794) was a British philologist and student of ancient India, particularly known for his discovery of the Indo-European languages family. ... Historical linguistics (also diachronic linguistics or comparative linguistics) is primarily the study of the ways in which languages change over time, by means of examining languages which are recognizably related through similarities such as vocabulary, word formation, and syntax, as well as the surviving records of ancient languages. ...

Sources

Eerherstel voor Goropius Becanus door Nicoline van der Sijs (http://www.cubra.nl/edschildersboekencolumn/051204becanusvandersijs.htm) (in Dutch)

How come we can't decipher the Indus script? (Snopes article containing reference to Goropius) (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mindusscript.html)

Cultureel Brabant (http://www.cubra.nl/brabantslandschap/inhoudhetparadijsvangoropiusbecanus.htm) (all in Dutch, but containing a wealth of information and images)

Ioannes Goropius (http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/adam/adam2/books/adamvitae2_60.html) (a small biography in Latin)