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Jan Theunisz (Johannes Antonides)

يان تونيس

Notable figure 1569–1637 · Source: Johann Fück, Tarikh harakat al-istishraq (Die arabischen Studien in Europa), trans. ʿUmar Lutfi al-ʿAlim, 2nd ed., Dar al-Madar al-Islami, Beirut 2001, p. ٧٠ · Second source: H. F. Wijnman, «Moet Jodocus Hondius of Jan Theunisz beschouwd worden als de eerste drukker van Hebreeuwsche boeken te Amsterdam?», Het Boek 17 (1928); and Dorrit van Dalen and Gerard Wiegers, «Wijzen uit het Oosten», De Boekenwereld 32 (2016), pp. 52–59

Field: Lexicography

Affiliation

Dutch printer who studied Arabic; left word lists in ms

Biography

Born in Alkmaar, he began Arabic in 1597 while living at Leiden with Raphelengius, then worked as a printer in Leiden and Amsterdam. The Moroccan Muhammad ʿAbd al-ʿAziz stayed with him in Amsterdam for four months from 1609, and he learned more Arabic from him than in years before. He then wrote a Latin and Arabic manuscript on Christianity and the Qur'an (1610), issued Doctissimorum quorundam hominum de arabicae linguae antiquitate (Amsterdam, 1611), and left five manuscript volumes of Arabic words.