Robert Constantin (1530 ?, Caen – 27 December 1605,

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...

) was a 16th-century French physician, hellenist, bibliographer, lexicographer and humanist.

Biography

Robert Constantin studied and practiced the art of medicine and was a pupil of

Julius Caesar Scaliger Julius Caesar Scaliger (; April 23, 1484 – October 21, 1558), or Giulio Cesare della Scala, was an Italian scholar and physician, who spent a major part of his career in France. He employed the techniques and discoveries of Renaissance humanism ...

(1484–1558), with whose children he worked in publishing his ''Poetics'' (Lyon, 1561). He taught at the

University of Caen The University of Caen Normandy (French: ''Université de Caen Normandie''), also known as Unicaen, is a public university in Caen, France. History The institution was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, the first rector ...

, where he achieved a reputation as a Hellenist and physician and was alderman of Montauban from 1571, where he died in 1605. Among other works, especially philological (corrections of

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of '' De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vo ...

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routle ...

and the ''De re medica'' by

Celsus Celsus (; grc-x-hellen, Κέλσος, ''Kélsos''; ) was a 2nd-century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. His literary work, ''The True Word'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: grc-x-hellen, Λόγ� ...

, an edition of

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history o ...

and others of

Ausonius Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; – c. 395) was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards bestowed the consulship on him ...

), but also of bibliographic character (composed with

Conrad Gesner Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...

(1516-1565), the first bibliography published in French soil, the ''Nomenclator insignium scriptorium'', 1555). In

lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

, the ''Lexicon Graeco-Latinum'' (1562) was, along the ''Thesaurus Linguae Graecae'' by

Robert Estienne The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, one of the most popular dictionaries for many centuries, whose composition was helped by

Jean Crespin Jean Crespin (c.1520 – 12 April 1572) was a French Protestant lawyer who became a significant printer and martyrologist in Geneva. Life He was born at Arras and studied law at Leuven. In 1540 he was in Paris, where he worked with his frien ...

. The monumental second edition, 1592, was extended by Franciscus Portus (1511-1581) with important appendices.

Works

*With

, ''Nomenclator insignium scriptorum quorum libri extant vel manuscripti vel impressi ex bibliothecis Galliae et Angliae, indexque totius Bibliothecae atque Pandectarum'' Paris, André Wechel, 1555. *''Annotationes et correctiones lemmatum in Dioscoridem'' (1558) *''Annotationes et correctiones in C. Celsum'' (1566) *''Annotationes in historias Theophrasti'' (1584) *''Aphorismi Hippocratis versibus Graecis et Latinis'' *''Tratado de Antigüedades griegas y latinas'' . *''Lexicon Graeco-Latinum'', 1562, 2.ª ed. 1592. * ''Commentarii et animadversiones in sex libros Plantarum Theophrasti'' de

, 1566.

Bibliography

* Michel Magnien, "Robert Constantin, éditeur de Jules César Scaliger", ''Esculape et Dionysos. Mélanges en l'honneur de Jean Céard'', Genève, Droz, 2008, p. 1045-1063.

External links

Robert Constantin
on data.bnf.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Constantin, Robert 16th-century French writers 16th-century male writers 16th-century Latin-language writers French Renaissance humanists 16th-century French physicians Hellenists French bibliographers French lexicographers Physicians from Caen Writers from Caen 1530s births 1605 deaths