Dr. Jan Knappert (January 14, 1927,

Heemstede Heemstede () is a town and a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the fourth richest municipality of the Netherlands. History Heemstede formed around the Castle ''Heemstede'' that was built overlooking the ...

– May 30, 2005,

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) was a well-known expert on the

Swahili language Swahili, also known by its local name , is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent litoral islands). It is a Bantu language, though Swahili ...

. He was also an

Esperantist An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperanto ...

, and he wrote an

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

-Swahili

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...

. Knappert translated many literary and historical works from Swahili; including ''

Utendi wa Tambuka ''Utend̠i wa Tambuka'', also known as ''Utenzi wa Tambuk''aThe symbol ''d̠'' is a transliteration of the Arabic for the Swahili sound ''dh'' (). Often this sound is written simply ''z'', hence the different spellings. ("The Story of Tambuka") ...

'' ("The Epic of Heraklios"), a very early Swahili

epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

. He also translated the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with as ...

, ''The

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...

'', into Swahili. Knappert taught in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, as well as several African universities. He also participated in several Esperanto conventions in the 1970s, such as

TEJO Tejo may refer to: *Tagus (Portuguese: ''Tejo''), a river on the Iberian Peninsula. *Tejo (sport), a sport and national pastime of Colombia. *Tejo (Argentina), a sport and national pastime of Argentina. *Tutmonda Esperantista Junulara Organizo (Wo ...

. Dr. Jan Knappert was Lecturer of Bantu Languages at the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

(SOAS), specializing in Swahili traditional and religious literature. He wrote extensively about the manuscripts he collected and deposited in the SOAS Archives. His most important contributions include ''Four Centuries of Swahili Verses'' (1979), ''Swahili Islamic Poetry'' (1971), ''Epic Poetry in Swahili and other African Languages'', (1983), ''A Survey of Swahili Islamic Epic Sagas'' (1999). He also resided at the

University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1 ...

, where he became Secretary of the East African Swahili Committee as well as editor of the journal of the same committee, after the death of W. H. Whiteley, in the 1970s. At SOAS, he worked with the great Africanists

Malcolm Guthrie Malcolm Guthrie (10 February 1903 – 22 November 1972) was an English linguist who specialized in Bantu languages. Guthrie was a foremost professor of Bantu languages at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. He is know ...

, A. N. Tucker,

B. W. Andrzejewski Bogumił Witalis "Goosh" Andrzejewski (1922–1994) was a Polish-born, British-naturalised linguist whose research focused on the Somali language. Lists of Andrzejewski's works can be found in , , , and . General references * * * * * * ...

, Gordon Innes, and Ronald Snoxall. In addition to the study of Swahili, Dr Knappert also holds a degree in Sanskrit with Indian history, Hinduism and Buddhism, a degree in Semitic languages with Hebrew, Arabic and Islam, and a Master in Austronesian studies, with Malay, Tagalog, Hawaiian and Malagasy. After teaching at SOAS for a number of years, he moved to Belgium to lecture. After this he retired from the

University of Louvain 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, the ...

, Belgium, to devote himself entirely to writing. He fathered seven children and was grandfather to eight.

Partial bibliography

* 1958: ''Het Epos Van Heraklios'' (Dutch edition and literal translation; dissertation at Leiden University) * 1969: "The Utenzi wa Katirifu or Ghazwa ya Sesebani", ''Afrika und Übersee'', Band LII, 3–4, 81–104. * 1970: ''Myths and Legends of the Swahili''. London:

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

. * 1977: ''het Epos van Heraklios. Uit het Swahili vertaald in het oorspronkelijke metrum''. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff (Dutch translation in the original

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...

). * 1977: ''Myths and Legends of Indonesia''. Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd. * 1986: ''Kings, Gods and Spirits from African Mythology''. London: Eurobook Ltd. * 1989: ''The A-Z of African Proverbs'' London:

Karnak House Amon Saba Saakana, formerly known as Sebastian Clarke, is a Trinidad-born writer, journalist, lecturer, filmmaker and publisher, who migrated to Britain in 1965. In the 1970s he founded the publishing imprint Karnak House in London. As an author, ...

. * 1990: ''African Mythology''. London: The Aquarian Press. * 1991: ''Indian Mythology; an Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend''. London:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

. * 1995: ''Pacific Mythology; an Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend''. London:

. * 2001: ''The Book of African Fables''. New York:

Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international Independent business, independent company and Academic publisher, academic publishing house with editorial offices in Lewiston (town), New York, Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Lampete ...

. * 2003: ''The A-Z of African Love Songs''. London: Karnak House. * 2005: ''Swahili Culture Book I and II''. New York: Edwin Mellen Press.

External links

Jan Knappert
at Mellon Press. * Digitised items from the Knappert collection, held by SOAS archives can be viewed onlin
here
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knappert, Jan 1927 births 2005 deaths Linguists from the Netherlands Dutch Esperantists People from Heemstede Leiden University alumni Academic staff of the Université catholique de Louvain Academics of SOAS University of London 20th-century linguists