Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A theory that some modern or attested language, such as Dutch, Turkish, or Hebrew, was the original language of mankind.
  • noun An absurd etymology proposed as part of such a theory.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Johannes Goropius Becanus proposed such a theory, in which Brabantic, a Dutch dialect, was the language spoken in Paradise.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • Goropism, coined by Leibniz. Also Goropianism, after the dutch armchair linguist Johannes Goropius Becanus (1519-1572), who posited that the Brabantic language spoken in the vicinity of Antwerp was the original language from which all others evolved.

    January 14, 2013

  • Totally ridiculous. Everybody knows the original language was Latvian.

    January 14, 2013

  • Glad you picked up on the Leibniz connection so quickly, ruzuzu.

    January 14, 2013

  • Thanks for providing it!

    January 14, 2013

  • I like the second definition and that there's a better term for absurd etymologies than absurd etymologies.

    January 14, 2013

  • I didn't know how much I needed this word until I saw it! So, would a person who invents these absurd etymologies be a goropist?

    January 15, 2013