Pedro Jaime Esteve (''latinicized: Estevius, Catalan: Pere Jaume Esteve''; c. 1500 in Sant Mateu del Maestrat – 1556 in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

) was a Spanish doctor, botanist, and

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

Life and work

Pedro Jaime Esteve studied in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. Later, he worked as a professor of medicine and mathematics at the

University of Valencia The University of Valencia ( ca-valencia, Universitat de València ; also known as UV) is a public research university located in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is one of the oldest surviving universities in Spain, and the oldest in the Vale ...

. In 1551, he published the Hippocratic work "Epidemics II" in Greek, with numerous illustrations and a Latin translation. This book was the medical foundation of humanism in Spain. In 1552, he published a critical edition of "Theriaca", a work on the poisons and bites of snakes and scorpions, by the ancient Greek doctor

Nicander of Colophon Nicander of Colophon ( grc-gre, Νίκανδρος ὁ Κολοφώνιος, Níkandros ho Kolophṓnios; fl. 2nd century BC), Greek poet, physician and grammarian, was born at Claros (Ahmetbeyli in modern Turkey), near Colophon, where his famil ...

. He made his Latin hexameter version available with Latin and Catalan nomenclature and taxonomy of some plants from the region of Valencia. Later, Esteve wrote a volume on medicinal herbs, which, however, has been lost.

Notes

The American plant genus ''

Stevia Stevia () is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute derived from the leaves of the plant species ''Stevia rebaudiana'', native to Paraguay and Brazil. The active compounds are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which h ...

'' is named after Pedro Jaime Esteve.

References

* Enciclopèdia Catalana: Esteve, Pere Jaume. In: Gran enciclopèdia catalana. 2. Edition 5. Reprint 1992. Volume 10. Enciclopèdia catalana, Barcelona 1987, , S. 322 (Catalan).(Note: In the Enciclopèdia Catalana article, the Spanish first name of "Pedro Jaime" Esteve has been Catalanicized to "Pere Jaume")

Bibliography

* Helmut Genaust: ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen''. 3., complete edited and extended edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, , S. 611 (Entry „Stevia“) (Reprint of 1996).

External links

* Enciclopèdia.cat: Pere Jaume Esteve. Accessed April 14, 2018 (Catalan). (Note: In the Enciclopèdia Catalana article, the Spanish first name of "Pedro Jaime" Esteve has been Catalanicized to "Pere Jaume") Spanish Renaissance humanists 16th-century Spanish botanists 1500 births 1556 deaths Year of birth uncertain {{Spain-med-bio-stub