Frans van Ravelingen, latinized to Franciscus Raphelengius, (February 27, 1539 — July 20, 1597), was a Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

-born Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 scholar, printer and bookseller, based in Leiden. He held the chair in Hebrew at Leiden from 1587, and also had knowledge of Arabic and Persian. He wrote an Arabic-Latin lexicon, which was published posthumously in 1613. This was said to be the first proper dictionary of the Arabic language.

Raphelengius was born at Lannoy

Lannoy, Nord

Lannoy is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-Geography:With a land area of only , it is the fourth-smallest French commune by surface area and the smallest chef-lieu of a canton...

 and was the son-in-law of printer Christopher Plantin; he managed the Plantin office in Leiden. He collaborated on the Antwerp Polyglot Bible, and was official printer for the university. His scholarly printing qualities were one of the attractions that drew Joseph Justus Scaliger

Joseph Justus Scaliger

Joseph Justus Scaliger was a French religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewish and Ancient Egyptian history.-Early life:He was born at Agen, the tenth child and third son of Italian...

to Leiden in 1593. Raphelengius died in Leiden.

External links

Some biographical information

• The Arabic type specimen of Franciscus Raphelengius's Plantinian Printing Office

Sources

• Fuks, Lajb, et al., Hebrew Typography in the Northern Netherlands, 1585-1815, pages 16-17, BRILL publishers 1984, ISBN 9004070567