Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Cultural Nationalism and the Rise of Dutch Studies
- 1 Matthijs Siegenbeek in Defence of Dutch
- 2 Barthold Hendrik Lulofs: A ‘Learned Dilettante’
- 3 Poet and Professor: Adam Simons
- 4 Johannes Kinker: A Kantian Philosopher Teaching Dutch Language, Literature, and Eloquence
- 5 Caught Between Propaganda and Science: Ulrich Gerhard Lauts, the Forgotten Father of Dutch Philology in Brussels
- 6 Pieter Weiland and his Nederduitsche Spraakkunst
- 7 Moralist of the Nation: Johannes Henricus van der Palm
- 8 ‘I am Revived as a Belgian’: The Work of Jan Frans Willems
- 9 Adriaan Kluit: Back to the Sources!
- 10 ‘Can Grander Skulls be Crowned?’: Jacob van Dijk’s Posthumous Literary History
- 11 Hendrik van Wijn: Pioneer of Historical Literary Studies in the Netherlands
- 12 The Founding Father of Dutch Literary History: Jeronimo de Vries
- Afterword: Gert-Jan Johannes
- Index
9 - Adriaan Kluit: Back to the Sources!
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Cultural Nationalism and the Rise of Dutch Studies
- 1 Matthijs Siegenbeek in Defence of Dutch
- 2 Barthold Hendrik Lulofs: A ‘Learned Dilettante’
- 3 Poet and Professor: Adam Simons
- 4 Johannes Kinker: A Kantian Philosopher Teaching Dutch Language, Literature, and Eloquence
- 5 Caught Between Propaganda and Science: Ulrich Gerhard Lauts, the Forgotten Father of Dutch Philology in Brussels
- 6 Pieter Weiland and his Nederduitsche Spraakkunst
- 7 Moralist of the Nation: Johannes Henricus van der Palm
- 8 ‘I am Revived as a Belgian’: The Work of Jan Frans Willems
- 9 Adriaan Kluit: Back to the Sources!
- 10 ‘Can Grander Skulls be Crowned?’: Jacob van Dijk’s Posthumous Literary History
- 11 Hendrik van Wijn: Pioneer of Historical Literary Studies in the Netherlands
- 12 The Founding Father of Dutch Literary History: Jeronimo de Vries
- Afterword: Gert-Jan Johannes
- Index
Summary
Abstract
Adriaan Kluit (1735-1807) wrote various works dedicated to the Dutch language. In 1776 he was appointed as professor of rhetoric and the Greek language and literature in Middelburg, and in 1778 he accepted a full professorship in history at Leiden university, with a special research remit in the charters and sources of the past of the United Netherlands. The thread running through his linguistic and historical work is his critical use of ancient sources, which in fact made him the first academic mediaevalist to introduce the diplomatic editing of charters. He brought to bear his study of ancient sources on both the regulation of the Dutch language and on his views on the sovereignty of the Dutch state.
Keywords: language standardization, spelling, word gender, historical sources, diplomatic editing.
Introduction
One of the most interesting figures to emerge from the academic world and the Republic of Letters of the second half of the eighteenth century is Adriaan Kluit. He wrote and translated poetry, did philological work, compiled word lists, and strove to develop a standard Dutch. At Leiden University he grew into an original professor of Dutch national history with a profound influence on the public discourse in the last phase of the Republic of the United Netherlands and the nascent Batavian Republic. The thread running through his linguistic and historical work is his critical use of ancient sources, which in fact made him the first academic mediaevalist to introduce the diplomatic editing of charters. He brought to bear his study of ancient sources on both the regulation of the Dutch language and on his views on the sovereignty of the Dutch state. He thereby laid the foundations for a sense of unity from which in the course of the nineteenth-century scholars could mould a Dutch national identity.
Studies and Life at the Literary Societies
Kluit saw the light of day in Dordrecht on 9 February 1735, the eighth scion of an apothecary and a Walloon pastor's daughter. He attended the Latin school in his place of birth. From 1755 to 1760 he studied at Utrecht University, where he received a broad education in the classical languages, Dutch language and literature, history and law.
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- Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018