description Francis Junius Overview
Francis Junius, also known as Franciscus Junius the Younger, was a 17th-century philologist and art historian. Born in Germany and later active in the Netherlands and England, he was a prominent early scholar of Germanic languages. He compiled a significant Gothic glossary based on the Codex Argenteus and his manuscript, *Etymologicum Anglicanum*, was posthumously published in 1743. His research provided foundational tools for later linguists studying Old English, Old Norse, and comparative Germanic philology.
insights Ranking position
Francis Junius ranks #100 of 313 in the Lexicographer ranking, behind A. S. Hornby, ahead of Zsigmond Simonyi.
help Francis Junius FAQ
Why is Francis Junius important to Gothic language studies?
Junius edited the Gothic text of the Gospels from the Codex Argenteus and compiled the Gothicum Glossarium. The glossary appeared in 1664 and explained Gothic words found in that manuscript.
Was the Etymologicum Anglicanum published during Junius's lifetime?
No, Edward Lye edited and published it posthumously at Oxford in 1743. Junius had died in 1667, roughly three-quarters of a century before the book appeared.
Did Samuel Johnson use Junius's etymological work?
Yes, Junius was an important source for Germanic and Anglo-Saxon etymologies in Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary. Johnson also drew on Stephen Skinner's Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae.
What is the Junius manuscript named after Francis Junius?
Bodleian Library MS Junius 11 contains Old English biblical poetry that Junius published in 1655. The poems were once attributed to Cædmon, but modern scholarship no longer accepts that attribution.
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