Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn facts for kids
Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn (born August 28, 1612 – died October 3, 1653) was a smart Dutch scholar. He was a professor at the University of Leiden. He found out that many languages were similar. He thought they all came from one very old language. He called this ancient language 'Scythian'.
He believed languages like Dutch, Greek, Latin, Persian, and German were related. Later, he added Slavic, Celtic, and Baltic languages to his idea. He did not think languages like Hebrew were part of this group. Marcus van Boxhorn passed away in Leiden.
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Discovering Language Families
Marcus van Boxhorn wrote many books, especially about the history of his home country. He was a very important person in the study of languages. His idea, called the Indo-Scythian theory, helped us understand how languages are related today. This is known as the Indo-European language family.
In the 1600s, he was one of the first to look into how European languages might be connected. He thought languages like Greek, Latin, Welsh, German, Russian, Celtic, Turkish, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Persian all came from a shared original language.
The Indo-Scythian Theory
Van Boxhorn first shared his Indo-Scythian theory in a letter in 1637. He wrote it to his friend Claudius Salmasius. Later, Salmasius added Sanskrit to van Boxhorn's theory. In 1647, van Boxhorn published his ideas in three parts.
At that time, many people thought Hebrew was the first human language. This idea came mostly from the Bible. But two other Dutch scholars, Johannes Goropius Becanus and Adriaan van Schrieck, believed that Dutch was the original language. Van Boxhorn disagreed with them.
He thought that Latin, Greek, Germanic, Russian, Welsh, Latvian, Lithuanian, Turkish, and Persian shared a common ancestor. He called this ancestor language Scythian. He did not believe that all languages came from just one single language.
Van Boxhorn first talked about his theory in a book about the goddess Nehalennia. Statues and altars of Nehalennia were found in January 1647 in Zeeland, a Dutch province. Van Boxhorn studied the name of Nehalennia, which was a mystery.
He wrote the first part of his book as a letter to Countess Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. In the third part, he explained his Indo-Scythian theory. He also showed the evidence he had found for it.
Earlier Ideas and Influences
Van Boxhorn's theory was inspired by earlier works. One was the Lexicon Symphonum, published in 1537 by Sigismund Gelenius. Even before Boxhorn, the University of Leiden had studied how languages were related.
In 1575, Franciscus Raphelengius, a professor in Leiden, taught his students about similarities between Persian and Germanic languages. This suggested they were related. Later, other scholars in Leiden, like Bonaventura Vulcanius and Johann Elichmann, continued this idea.
Van Boxhorn also found works by Rudolphus Agricola, Johannes Aventinus, and Hadrianus Junius. These scholars had looked at the connections between Greek, Latin, and Germanic languages. He found their writings in the library of his friend Petrus Scriverius.
Later Recognition
About 100 years after Boxhorn, a French scholar named Gaston-Laurent Cœurdoux found more proof. He showed that Sanskrit was related to the Indo-Scythian, or Indo-European, languages. In 1771, he found similar words for "to be" in Sanskrit and Latin. This showed a clear connection.
In Germany, van Boxhorn's theory became known in 1686. This was through a paper by Andreas Jäger at the University of Wittenberg. In England, the theory spread in the early 1700s, thanks to Lord Monboddo.
Inspired by these writings, Sir William Jones also studied the Indo-European theory. Because he was important in the British government and in Asian society, he helped people accept that Sanskrit was related to Greek and Latin. Jones mentioned Lord Monboddo's work, which had taught him about van Boxhorn's discoveries.
How Languages Were Compared
To show that languages came from a common origin, van Boxhorn compared many things. He looked at word origins (etymologies), how words changed forms (inflection patterns), and the grammar of different languages.
He studied Greek, Latin, Persian, Old Saxon, Dutch, German, Gothic, Russian, Danish, Swedish, Lithuanian, Czech, Croatian, and Welsh. He found similarities that showed these languages were related. Van Boxhorn was the first to include not only Greek, Germanic, Romance, and Slavic languages, but also Persian, Sanskrit, Celtic, and Baltic languages in this family.
A New Way to Study Languages
Marcus van Boxhorn did not just compare similar words. He also looked at whole inflection patterns and grammars. He believed that language relationships had to be proven by systematic grammar connections. It wasn't enough to just see similar-looking words.
He was the first to use a method for studying languages that we now call the comparative method. This method is still used today.
Avoiding Mistakes
Van Boxhorn saw language as a living system. He warned about loan words and Wanderworts. These are words that spread from one language to another. They can make it seem like languages are related when they are not.
Sometimes, people wrongly think languages are related because they have similar words. But these words might have just been borrowed from another language. Van Boxhorn wanted to prevent these mistakes. He did this by carefully comparing grammar features and how words change form.
Works
- Prima religionis Christianae Rudimenta, Leiden, 1650
Literature
- Lyle Campbell / William J. Posner: Language Classification. History and Method. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008.
- Daniel Droixhe: La linguistique et l’appel de l’histoire, 1600–1800. Rationalisme et révolutions positivistes. Droz, Genf 1978.
- Daniel Droixhe: Boxhorn's Bad Reputation. A Chapter in Academic Linguistics. In: Klaus D. Dutz (Ed.): Speculum historiographiae linguisticae. Kurzbeiträge der IV. Internationalen Konferenz zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaften (ICHoLS IV), Trier 24-27 1987. Nodus, Münster 1989. p. 359–84.
- Daniel Droixhe: Boxhorn, in: R. E. Asher (Eds.): The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Pergamon Press, Oxford 1994.
- Daniel Droixhe: Souvenirs de Babel. La reconstruction de l’histoire des langues de la Renaissance aux Lumières. Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique, Brüssel 2007.
- R.H.F. Hofman: Marcus Zuerius Boxhorn (1612-1653), in: L. Toorians (Ed.): Kelten en de Nederlanden van prehistorie tot heden. Peeters, Leuven/Paris 1998. pp. 149–167.
- George van Driem: Languages of the Himalayas. An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill, Leiden 2001. p. 1412.
- B. van Wayenburg: Marcus van Boxhorn. Uitvinder van de Europese oertaal. In: Mare di libri 32 2004.
