Goropius Becanus

Johannes Goropius Becanus (23 June 1519 – 28 June 1572), born Jan Gerartsen at Gorp, was a Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist.

He was born Jan Gerartsen van Gorp in the town of Gorp, 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 languages, studying antiquity; and became fluent in many languages.

Goropius died in Maastricht, where he was buried in the old friars minor church.

Goropius theorized that Antwerpian 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 Brabantic has a higher number of short words than do Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, Goropius reasoned that it was the older language.

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