Hendrik van der Veen (1888–1977)Hendrik van der Veen
at biografischportaal.nl was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

missionary worker and linguist who worked in

Tana Toraja Tana Toraja ( 'Toraja Land' in Toraja language) is a landlocked regency (''kabupaten'') of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group. It covers an area of and had a population of 221,081 at the 2010 census and 280, ...

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

. Van der Veen was born on 21 July 1888 in Rossum, Bommelerwaard, as the son of the pastor Jan van der Veen. He initially aimed to work as a linguist in

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Ha ...

, but was sent to Tana Toraja at the suggestion of missionary

Antonie Aris van de Loosdrecht Antonie Aris van de Loosdrecht (1 March 1885, Veenendaal – 26 July 1917, Tana Toraja) was a Dutch missionary.Th. van den End. 1994. Sumber-sumber zending tentang Gereja Toraja. Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia. p. 11 He was sent by Gereformeerde Zendi ...

. The Biblical Institute of the Netherlands issued instructions to Dr. Hendrik van der Veen on June 9, 1916: his main task was the translation of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

, in accordance with his expertise as a linguist. In May 1916, he left for Batavia and stayed for three months. At the end of August, he arrived at

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Meda ...

, boarding the ship to Palopo and then to

Rantepao Rantepao is a town and capital of North Toraja Regency, which is known for the cultural center of Toraja ethnic group. National and regional tourism offices have developed the city as the starting point for visiting Tana Toraja, since the area ...

. Hendrik van der Veen arrived in Rantepao, Tana Toraja, on 11 September 1916, and was greeted by the family of van de Loosdrecht and

Johannes Belksma Johannes "Hans" Belksma (19 October 1884, Tzum – 3 March 1942, Tana Toraja) was a Dutch missionary.Chris G. F. de Jong. 1996. Ilalang Arenna. Jakarta: BPK Gunung Mulia. p. 686. He was sent by , a missionary agency in Utrecht, Netherlands, to wo ...

. Van der Veen remained in Indonesia after its independence from the Netherlands in 1948 until ca. 1960, after which he returned to the Netherlands. On October 19, 1977, he died in

Leusden Leusden () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is located about 3 kilometres southeast of Amersfoort. The western part of the municipality lies on the slopes of the Utrecht Hill Ridge and is largely co ...

at the age of 89.

Hendrik van der Veen's Work in Tana Toraja

While in Tana Toraja, Van der Veen compiled biblical books for local schools, and began translating the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascensi ...

into the

Toraja language The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Ch ...

. This book became the first part of his translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

, intended for use in Christmas meetings. Van der Veen also compiled a Toraja-Dutch dictionary, published in 1940; translated the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

from 1947–1955; completed the entire translation of the Old Testament and the New Testament into the Toraja language, eventually known as ''Sura Madatu'', and published in 1960; and began work on a Toraja-Indonesian dictionary. This dictionary was not completed by van der Veen, and ultimately continued by J. Tammu and L. Pakan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veen, hendrik van der 1888 births 1977 deaths Dutch expatriates in Indonesia Dutch Protestant missionaries Linguists from the Netherlands Linguists of Austronesian languages Linguists of Papuan languages Linguists of West Papuan languages Missionary linguists People from Maasdriel Protestant missionaries in Indonesia 20th-century linguists