Nicolaas van Wijk

Nicolaas van Wijk

Nicolaas van Wijk (born October 4, 1880 in Delden , † March 25, 1941 in Leiden ) was a Dutch German studies scholar and is considered the father of Dutch Slavonic studies .

Life

Nicolaas was the son of pastor Aart Willem van Wijk (* April 14, 1852 in Weesp; † March 13, 1918 in Zwolle) and his wife Bregitta Bruijn, who was married on December 4, 1878 (* October 28, 1849 in Weesp; † 23. December 1935 ibid.). He spent his youth in Zwolle, where he attended high school there from 1892. Van Wijk studied Dutch literature and language at the University of Amsterdam from 1898 to 1901 . He followed the lectures on Gothic languages ​​and Sanskrit with the Dutch anthropologist Christianus Cornelis Uhlenbeck (born October 18, 1866 in Voorburg; † August 12, 1951 in Lugano). In 1902 he received his doctorate in the field of Indo-European languages ​​with the work The nominal genitive singular in Indo-European in its relationship to the nominative to the doctor of philosophy.

After receiving his doctorate, he completed further Indo-European studies at the University of Leipzig with Karl Brugmann . In Leipzig, August Leskien introduced him to Slavic language studies, and so Wijk moved to Moscow in 1903 to experience the Russian language in practice. When he returned to the Netherlands, he worked as a German teacher at the high school in Arnhem from 1903 and in 1904 in the same capacity in Goes . In the latter place, various articles on the Indo-European languages ​​were written and a school book on the Dutch language was published. From 1907 he worked as curator of the manuscripts and sub-librarian at the Royal Library in The Hague . During that time he developed a Dutch etymological dictionary by Bonn professor Johannes Franck (born April 27, 1854 in Bendorf; † January 23, 1914 in Bonn) and wrote numerous articles on the Russian language.

Since the Dutch government decided in 1913 to establish a chair for Slavic Studies , Wijk was appointed to the professorship of the Baltic and Slavic languages ​​at the University of Leiden on July 25, 1913 , which he did on October 8 of the same year with the introductory speech Balties-Slaviese Problems ( German: Baltic-Slavic problems ). In this capacity, in addition to the Russian language, he also dealt with the various Slavic accents such as Czech, Polish, Old Bulgarian and other Old Church Slavonic languages. Numerous articles in the linguistic journals of his time come from his pen. Initially he was more interested in Indo-European topics and later mainly topics related to the literature and linguistics of Eastern Europe. He also participated in the organizational tasks of the Leiden University and was elected rector of the Alma Mater in the academy year 1929/30, for which he gave the rector's speech Optimisme en Pessimisme in de Russische Letterkunde (German: Optimism and Pessimism in Russian Literature ) held.

He also enjoyed an excellent reputation in the scholarly world of his time. From 1920 he was a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences , in 1928 a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union , was chairman of the Dutch commission for intellectual cooperation, member of the Cercle linguistique de Prague , foreign member of the Czech Academy of Arts and Sciences in Prague and member of a further number of domestic and foreign learned societies and associations. He became a Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion , Officer of the Czech Order of the White Lion and Officer of the Order of Polonia Restituta . He died unexpectedly at the age of sixty.

Works (selection)

• The nominal genitive singular in Indo-Germanic in its relationship to the nominative. 1902
• De Nederlandsche taal. Handbook for the three laagsten classes from gymnasia en higher burgerscholen. 1906, 3rd edition 1913
• Franck's Etymologically woordenboek the Ned. Taal. 1912 (2nd edition)
• Over de betekenis van Middelnederlandsche manuscripts voor de studie van dialecten. 1913
• De umlaut van a in ripuaries- en salies-frankiese dialects van België en Nederland. 1914
• Old Prussian Studies. 1918
• Hoofdmomenten der Russian letterkunde. 1919
• The Baltic and Slavic accent and intonation systems. 1923
• Geillustreerde Geschiedenis of Russian letter studies. 1924
• The history of Russian letters. 1926
• Aspect en action type. 1928
• Cechoslovakije. 1931
• History of the Old Church Slavonic language. 1931, 1st vol.
• Studies on the Old Church Slavonic paterika. 1931
• Phonology. 1939

literature

• Prof. Dr. N. van Wijk overleden, Hoogleeraar in the Balto-Slavic valley. In: Leidsch Dagblad. March 25, 1941, p. 2 ( online )
• AW Bijvanck: In memoriam Prof. Dr. N. van Wijk. In: Jaarboekje voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde van Leiden en Rijnland. PJ Mulder & Zoon, Leiden, 1942, pp. 42-45
• How is that? Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1931, p. 298
• FBJ Kuiper: N. van Wijk (Delden, 4 October 1880-Leiden, 25 Maart 1941). In: Handelingen en levensberichten van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden, 1942-1943. EJ Brill, Leiden 1944, pp. 156–168 ( online )
• J. van Ginneken: Levens report N. van Wijk. In: Jaarboek of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen 1940-1941. Amsterdam, pp. 192–207 ( Online PDF )
• JP Hinrichs: Wijk, Nicolaas van (1880-1941). In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. (BWN), The Hague, 1994, Vol. 4 ( Online )
• Jan Paul Hinrichs: Nicolaas van Wijk (1880-1941) Slavist, linguist, philanthropist. Rodopi BV, Amsterdam, 2006, ISBN 9042020237

Web links

• Van Wijk entry in the professorial catalog of the University of Leiden
• Van Wijk entry in the digital library of Dutch literature (DBNL)
• Van Wijk entry at the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW)