Andrew Nathaniel Nelson (December 23, 1893 – May 17, 1975) was an American

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

and scholar of

East Asian languages The East Asian languages are a language family (alternatively ''macrofamily'' or ''superphylum'') proposed by Stanley Starosta in 2001. The proposal has since been adopted by George van Driem. Classifications Early proposals Early proposals of s ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, best known for his work in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

lexicography Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...

Biography

He was born in

Great Falls, Montana Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...

to Swedish immigrant parents and earned his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Walla Walla University Walla Walla University is a private Adventist university in College Place, Washington. The university has five campuses throughout the Pacific Northwest. It was founded in 1892 and is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The uni ...

. In 1918, he began his long career of service in the Seventh-day Adventist missions of

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

, where he gained particular distinction in the fields of general education and language training. The

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

awarded Nelson a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1938 for his dissertation on ''The origin, history, and present status of the temples of Japan''. After retiring from missionary work in 1961, he was preoccupied with placing the finishing touches on his masterpiece, '' The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary'', which first appeared in print the following year. The work, which was posthumously revised and expanded by a team led by John H. Haig at the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, was reissued in 1997 as ''

The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary ' is a kanji dictionary published with English speakers in mind. It is an updated version of the original dictionary authored by Andrew N. Nelson, '' The Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary''. The primary change in the new versi ...

''; however, many scholars, teachers, and students continue to use the original edition of Nelson's dictionary, which has remained in print, because of changes made in Haig's edition that are viewed as impairing the functionality of the work. It is one of the most authoritative Kanji dictionaries for English learners of the language, and displays particular sensitivity to the difficulties they may have with the

Kangxi radical The 214 Kangxi radicals (), also known as the Zihui radicals, form a system of radicals () of Chinese characters. The radicals are numbered in stroke count order. They are the most popular system of radicals for dictionaries that order Traditi ...

system traditionally used to classify

Kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

. Nelson died in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Administrator

Philippine Union College

While President of Philippine Union College, Nelson also served as a chaplain at the

New Bilibid Prison The New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila is the main insular prison designed to house the prison population of the Philippines. It is maintained by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under the Department of Justice. As of Octob ...

. On January 19, 1951, he provided pastoral support for the fourteen executed that day, thirteen of them were part of the Nakamura Case.

Founded Mountain View College

Nelson describes the founding of Mountain View College in a report published in the March 17, 1953, Youth's Instructor. They established a list of criteria based on the values of Adventist Education and then explored the vast territory of the South Philippines looking for land which met the criteria.Andrew N. Nelson (1953) ''Pioneering a New College in the Philippines.'' The Youth's Instructor. March 17, 1953, p. 12.
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Works

*Nelson's Kanji Dictionary

References

External links

Basic biographical details

University of Washington library catalog entry for Nelson's Ph.D. thesis"The Origin, History and Present Status of the Temples of Japan" thesis scanned text Nelson, Andrew N. ''Pioneering a New College in the Philippines.'' The Youth's Instructor. March 17, 1953, p. 12
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Andrew 1893 births 1975 deaths Seventh-day Adventist religious workers American lexicographers Linguists from the United States American expatriates in Japan American Japanologists Japanese literature academics People from Great Falls, Montana American people of Swedish descent American Seventh-day Adventist missionaries Walla Walla University alumni Seventh-day Adventist missionaries in Japan 20th-century linguists Missionary linguists 20th-century lexicographers