Erasmus

[ih-raz-muhs]

noun

1. Desiderius 1466?–1536, Dutch humanist, scholar, theologian, and writer.

2. a male given name: from a Greek word meaning “beloved.”

Erasmus

/ ɪˈræzməs /

noun

1. Desiderius (ˌdɛzɪˈdɪərɪəs), real name Gerhard Gerhards. ?1466–1536, Dutch humanist, the leading scholar of the Renaissance in northern Europe. He published the first Greek edition of the New Testament in 1516; his other works include the satirical Encomium Moriae (1509); Colloquia (1519), a series of dialogues; and an attack on the theology of Luther, De Libero Arbitrio (1524)