Word: geert
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...enjoyed reading your article on Erasmus [April 25], but I do not think you went all the way when you endeavored to explain the name of my great compatriot. Erasmus' name in fact was Geert Geertsz (Gerard, son of Gerard) and as the humanists liked to translate their names into Latin (and/or Greek), Erasmus used the fact that "Geert" in his time was a form of a verb which meant "to desire," "to long for" (Latin: desidero). You know, of course, that Melanchthon wrote an epitaph for Erasmus: "Eras mus omnia rodere solitus [You were a mouse that always...