Turnebus

Turnebus, the Latinised family name of Adrien Turnèbe, a great scholar of the 16th century, born at Rouen in 1572. According to some accounts he was of Scottish descent, his family name having been originally Turnbull. Educated at the university of Paris, he greatly distinguished himself in the study of the ancient classics, and eventually, as professor of Greek and Philosophy in the Collège Royal in Paris, attained a European reputation. Montaigne, who knew him personally, declares that he was the greatest man of letters who had appeared for a thousand years. When Turnèbe died (12th June 1565) it was the universal opinion that learning and virtue could not have sustained a greater loss. See Maittaire, Historia Typographorum aliquot Parisiensium (8vo, Lond. 1717). An account of Turnèbe is also prefixed to his miscellaneous works published at Strasburg in 1600.