Maurits Gysseling (

Oudenburg Oudenburg (; french: Audembourg ; vls, Oednburg; la, Aldenburgensis) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenburg itself and the towns of Ettelgem, Roksem and We ...

, 7 September 1919 –

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest i ...

, 24 November 1997) was an influential Belgian researcher into

historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...

and

paleography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

. He was especially well known for his editions and studies of old texts relevant to the history of the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. '' Afrikaan ...

, and also for his very detailed analyses of historical place-names and their probable origins. Based upon the results of his study of place-names, Gysseling became one of the proponents of the "

Nordwestblok The Nordwestblock (German, "Northwest Block") is a hypothetical Northwestern European cultural region that some scholars propose as a prehistoric culture in the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, northern France, and northwestern Germany, in an a ...

" idea that before the 2nd century BCE the language of

Gallia Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and Germany. In 5 ...

was an

Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, D ...

that was neither Germanic nor Celtic. According to his conclusions, the northern

Belgae The Belgae () were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth by J ...

then became Germanic-speaking, and never had been fully Celtic-speaking, in the centuries before Rome conquered them. Major published works include: * ''Diplomata Belgica ante annum millesimum centesimum scripta'' (2 volumes) (1950) * ''Toponymisch woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland (vóór 1226)'' (2 volumes) (1960) (A dictionary of place names in Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, North France, and West Germany (before 1226)) * ''Proeve van een Oudnederlandse grammatica'' (1964) (Attempt at an

Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from aro ...

grammar) * ''Hoofdlijnen in de evolutie van het Nederlandse vocalensysteem'' (1975) * ''De Germaanse woorden in de Lex Salica'' (1976) (Germanic words in the Lex Salica) * ''Noordwesteuropese persoonsnaambestanddelen'' (1982) (Components of northwest European personal names) * ''Prehistorische waternamen'' (1983) (Prehistoric water names) * ''Inventaris van het archief van Sint-Baafs en Bisdom Gent tot eind 1801'' (5 delen) (1997-2000) (Inventory of the archive of Sint-Baafs and the Bishopric of Ghent until the end of 1801) At his death his letters and archives were left to the

Ghent University Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, whe ...

, where he had worked, and the Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde (Royal Academy for Dutch Language and Literature). Uncompleted works in these records include ''Het Antroponymisch Woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland (tot 1226)'', the ''Toponymisch Woordenboek van Oost- en Zeeuws-Vlaanderen'' and a re-working of

Julius Pokorny Julius Pokorny (12 June 1887 – 8 April 1970) was an Austrian-Czech linguist and scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly Irish, and a supporter of Irish nationalism. He held academic posts in Austrian and German universities. Early life ...

's ''Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch''.

References

*Lamarcq, Danny; Rogge, Marc (1996), ''De Taalgrens: Van de oude tot de nieuwe Belgen'', Davidsfonds, page 175

External links

Toponymisch Woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland (vóór 1226)

Antroponymisch Woordenboek (online database)

Engineering the Anthroponymical Lexicon of the Historical Low Countries: User-Assisted Data Extraction from Archival Sources Resulting in an Auto-Generated Online Collaborative Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gysseling, Maurits 1919 births 1997 deaths Flemish academics Ghent University faculty Historical linguists People from West Flanders