Maurits Gysseling ( Oudenburg, 7 September 1919 –

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, 24 November 1997) was an influential Belgian researcher into

historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also known as diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of how languages change over time. It seeks to understand the nature and causes of linguistic change and to trace the evolution of languages. Historical li ...

and

paleography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

. 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 languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...

, 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" idea that before the 2nd century BCE the language of Gallia Belgica was an

Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia ( ...

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 b ...

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 ( Modern Dutch: ') or Old Low Franconian (Modern Dutch: ') is the set of dialects that evolved from Frankish spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from around the 6th Page 55: "''Uit de zesde eeu ...

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 (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...

, 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'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 Academic staff of Ghent University Historical linguists People from West Flanders