Juan de Villalobos

Juan de Villalobos (Zamora 1555 - Santiago de Compostela 1593), was a Spanish Jesuit Hellenist and writer, considered the first Spanish Hellenist of the Society of Jesus. He is best known for his influential Grammaticae Graecae introductio.

Biography

Villalobos studied at the trilingual school in Salamanca. In January 1575, as a result of the imprisonment of Juan Escribano, who in addition to being regent of the Trilingual, gave lessons of Greek in the Schools, Juan de Villalobos was commissioned to assume his classes. At that time he composed his grammar of Greek, which he dedicated to the Rector of the University of Salamanca. The grammar was used to teach the elementary levels of Greek in the University at least until 1588, according to Francisco Sanchez de las Brozas. Nevertheless when in 1576 Escribano returned to Salamanca, Villalobos lost his position. That same year of 1576 Villalobos entered the Society of Jesus, which allowed him to teach Greek in the schools of the Society for several years, while gradually becoming famous as a preacher. In the following years he taught in the Jesuit schools. He died in Santiago in 1593.

He was one of the first Spanish Hellenists belonging to the Society of Jesus. His grammar is a small octavo volume of modest pretensions, although with some interesting reflections in the field of phonetics. It is one of the first greek grammars by a Jesuit, preceded only by small pamphlets of a few pages such as the Assertiones trium linguarum Latinae, Graecae et Hebraicae, quas defendent studiosi juvenes societas Jesu, printed in the Jesuit school in Vienna in 1560.

Works

• Grammaticae Graecae introductio, Salmanticae, apud haeredes Ioannis a Canova, 1576

Bibliography

• Christian Gottlieb Jöcher: Allgemeines Gelehrten–Lexikon. Band 4, Sp. 1609.

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