Martinus Theodorus Houtsma

Martinus Theodorus Houtsma (born January 15, 1851 in Irnsum , † February 9, 1943 in Utrecht ) was a Dutch orientalist.

Life

Martinus Theodorus was the son of the wood mill operator and later mayor of Rauwerderhem Otto Evertz. Houtsma (born December 10, 1817 in Wonseradeel; † April 5, 1861 in Irnsum) and his wife Feikje Maria Petronella Horreüs Laurman, who was married on January 4, 1840 in Weidum (born August 6, 1817 in Lellens (Gem. Ten Boer); † April 11, 1898 in Utrecht). So he came from the class of the financially strong middle class in the Netherlands. After attending grammar school in Dokkum , he enrolled on October 1, 1868 to study theology at the University of Leiden . Here Antonie Rutgers , Reinhart Dozy , Michael Jan de Goeje and Abraham Kuenen became his formative trainers. In 1874 he became a lecturer in the Hebrew language at the Leiden University and at the same time assistant to the Warner Legate at the university library there . On May 8, 1875, he received his doctorate in theology in Leiden on the subject of De strijd over het dogma in Islâm tot op el-Ash'ari .

On March 27, 1885, he became lecturer for Persian and Turkish in Leiden by royal resolution, which he took over on April 1 of that year. On March 10, 1890, he was appointed professor of the Hebrew language and Jewish antiquities at the University of Utrecht , which he assumed on May 14, 1890 with the introductory speech De ontwikkelingsgang der Hebreeuwsche taalstudie (freely translated into German: The development of the Hebrew language studies ) . In addition, he took part in the organizational tasks of the Utrecht educational institution and was rector of the Alma Mater in 1895/96 . Several articles by his hand appeared in the domestic and foreign linguistic journals of his time. He wrote several articles on different encyclopedias and lexicons. For example in the Encyclopædia Britannica . In 1890 he became a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and in 1913 was knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion . After he retired on September 17, 1917, he devoted himself to an international encyclopedia of Islam. After his death he was buried in the Soestbergen cemetery in Utrecht.

Works (selection)

De strijd over het dogma in den Islam tot op el-Ashcari. Leiden 1875
Histoire des Seldjoucides de l'Iraq. Leiden 1889
'Pictures from a Persian Fālbuch'. In: International Archive for Ethnography , Vol. III, 1890
De Ontwikkelingsgang der Hebreeuwsche taalstudie. Utrecht 1890
Encyclopedia of Islam. Geographical, ethnological and biographical dictionary of the Mohammedan peoples. Leiden and Leipzig, 1913–1938, 4th vol. & Erg. Vol.

literature

J. van Sluis: Biographical lexicon voor de geschiedenis van het Nederlands Protestantisme. Kok, Kampen, 2006, vol. 6. p. 129 ( online )
Onze Hoogleeraren. Portraits and biographies. Nijgh & van Ditmar, Rotterdam, 1898, p. 177
How is that? 1902. Vivat, Amsterdam, 1902, p. 213

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Houtsma, Martinus Theodorus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dutch orientalist
DATE OF BIRTH	January 15, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mistake
DATE OF DEATH	February 9, 1943
Place of death	Utrecht