Johannes Goropius Becanus () (23 June 1519 – 28 June 1573), born Jan Gerartsen, was a Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist. Life He was born Jan Gerartsen van Gorp in the hamlet 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: Mary of Austria and Eleanor of Austria, who were based in Brussels at the time. Philip II, Charles V's son, also wanted to appoint him as his own physician and offered him a rich income. Goropius, however, refused and established himself as medicus (town doctor) of Antwerp in 1554. Here, free of courtly intrigues, Goropius dedicated what time he could completely to languages and etymology, studying antiquity and becoming fluent in many languages. Goropius died in Maastricht, where he was buried in the old Franciscan church. Linguistic theories Goropius theorized that Antwerpian Brabantic, a particular dialect of Dutch 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. A corollary of this theory was that all languages derived ultimately from Brabantic. For example, Goropius derived the Latin word for "oak", quercus, from werd-cou (Brabantic for "keeps out cold"). Similarly, he derived the Hebrew name "Noah" from nood ("need"). Goropius also believed that Adam and Eve were Brabantic names (from Hath-Dam, or "dam against hate", for "Adam", and from Eu-Vat ("barrel from which people originated") or Eet-Vat ("oath-barrel") for "Eve", respectively). Another corollary involved locating the Garden of Eden itself in the Brabant region. In the book known as Hieroglyphica, Goropius also allegedly proved to his own satisfaction that Egyptian hieroglyphics represented Brabantic. Origines Antwerpianae 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 (1569), a treatise describing the antiquities of Antwerp, Goropius reports various curiosities, among them that a youth