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Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern (6 April 1833 – 4 July 1917) was a Dutch
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and Orientalist. In the literature, he is usually referred to as H. Kern or Hendrik Kern; a few other scholars bear the same surname.
Life
Hendrik Kern was born to Dutch parents in the
Central-Javanese town of
Purworejo
Purworejo is a regency ( id, kabupaten) in the southern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. It covers an area of 1,034.82 km2 and had a population of 695,427 at the 2010 Census and 769,880 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate ...
in the
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, which ...
, but when he was six his family repatriated to the Netherlands. When he entered grammar school, he added the extra-curricular subjects of English and Italian to his studies.
In 1850 he went up to
Utrecht University
Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...
to study Letters, but in 1851 moved to
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
to avail himself of the opportunity to read
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
with Professor A. Rutgers. After obtaining his Doctor's Degree in 1855, he moved to
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, where he continued his Sanskrit studies as a pupil of
Albrecht Weber
Friedrich Albrecht Weber (; 17 February 1825 – 30 November 1901) was a Prussian - German Indologist and historian who studied the history of Jainism in India. Some older sources have the first and middle names interchanged.
Weber was born in B ...
, and also took up Germanic and Slavonic languages.
On his return to the Netherlands in 1858, Dr Kern accepted a post as a lecturer of Greek at
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
. In 1863 he was offered a Professorship in
Benares,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
where he taught Sanskrit at Brahmana and Queen's Colleges until 1865, when he was offered the Chair of Sanskrit at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
. He remained there until his retirement in 1903, when he moved to the city of Utrecht. In 1866 he became member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
.
Professor Kern continued work after his retirement, but when in 1916 his wife died, he was heart-broken and out-lived her by less than a year.
Work
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Together with
Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk
Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk (23 February 1824 – 17 August 1894) was a Bible translator and linguist specialising in the languages of the Dutch East Indies.
Early years and studies
Van der Tuuk was born in Malacca (part of the Dutch East ...
, Kern is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Oriental Studies in the
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 ...
. His interest in languages was great, as witness his decision to take up English and Italian while still a secondary school pupil. In addition, he displayed an extraordinary ability to study, and to master, a wide variety of languages.
At first, his studies were restricted (if "restricted" is indeed the correct word) to Indo-European languages, ranging from the Germanic sub-group to
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
. His thesis, entitled ''Specimen historicum exhibens scriptores Graecos de rebus Persicis Achaemenidarum monumentis collatos'' (1855) broadened the field to
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, showing that inscriptions in that language could now be used to extend our knowledge of Ancient
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. While in
Benares, he applied himself to the study of
Dravidian languages
The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant ...
as well as picking up some
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, but also learnt sufficient
Hungarian to be able to read novels in that non-Indo-European language within a year. His studies also included the
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
languages.
In 1874, he published an edition of the astronomer
Āryabhata's work, thus putting out the first publication in
Nagara script in the Netherlands.
Apart from promoting the study of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, Professor Kern laid the foundation for
Austronesian studies by Dutch scholars. It is as a comparativist and a
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
that he gained his great reputation. In 1879 he worked on
Cambodian
Cambodian usually refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Cambodia
** Cambodian people (or Khmer people)
** Cambodian language (or Khmer language)
** For citizens and nationals of Cambodia, see Demographics of Cambodia
** Fo ...
inscriptions, then turned his attention to
Kawi (or
Old Javanese) and in 1886 showed that
Fijian and
Polynesian were
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
languages
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
. He was the first scholar to propose that the
Oceanic languages
The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a branch of the Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia, as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia. Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages ...
constituted a sub-group of
Austronesian (or
Malayo-Polynesian
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...
, as the language family was then called), and in 1906 he published a study of
Aneityum
Aneityum (also known as Anatom or Keamu) is the southernmost island of Vanuatu, in the province of Tafea.
Geography
Aneityum is the southernmost island of Vanuatu (not counting the Matthew and Hunter Islands, which are disputed with New Caledoni ...
and
Erromanga, two languages in the
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
branch of the
Oceanic
Oceanic may refer to:
*Of or relating to the ocean
*Of or relating to Oceania
**Oceanic climate
**Oceanic languages
**Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)"
Places
* Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
sub-group.
His interests were not restricted to pure
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
. Thus, in 1889 he made use of the "
Wörter und Sachen
Wörter und Sachen (German for ''words and things'') was a philological movement of the early 20th century that was based largely in Germany and Austria.
Its proponents believed that the etymology of words should be studied in close association o ...
" method (which compares designations for plants, animals and objects in cognate languages) to ascertain a putative dispersal centre for the "
Malayo-Polynesian
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...
" peoples.
Kern's versatility also showed itself in his cultural studies. His ''History of Buddhism in India'' (1881–83), displays a thorough command of its subject. However, the author has been criticised for an incomplete understanding of Eastern
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...
and mysticism, which may in part have been due to his
positivist approach. Professor Kern has also been said to have borne a deep distrust of his contemporary
Neogrammarians
The Neogrammarians (German: ''Junggrammatiker'', 'young grammarians') were a German school of linguists, originally at the University of Leipzig, in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of sound change.
...
.
He published extensively, and his influence on subsequent linguists, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere, has been profound.
Select bibliography
Kern's chief work is considered to be ''Geschiedenis van het Buddhisme in Indië'' (
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
, 2 vols., 1881–1883). In
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
he wrote a translation of the ''Saddharma Pundarika'' (
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, 1884, published as Vol. 21 of
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...
's ''
Sacred Books of the East
The ''Sacred Books of the East'' is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious texts, edited by Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910. It incorporates the essential sacred texts ...
''); and a ''Manual of Indian Buddhism'' (
Strassburg, 1896) for Buhler Kielhorn's ''Grundriss der indoarischen Philologie''.
He also critically edited the ''
Jataka-Mala'' of Arya Shura in the original Sanskrit
n Devanagariwhich was published as volume 1 of the
Harvard Oriental Series
The ''Harvard Oriental Series'' is a book series founded in 1891 by Charles Rockwell Lanman and Henry Clarke Warren. Lanman served as its inaugural editor (1891-1934) for the first 37 volumes. Other editors of the series include Walter Eugene Clark ...
in 1891. A second issue came in 1914.
(With two exceptions, the following publications are in Dutch. The translation of a title in quotation marks indicates that no English translation of the work has come to notice.)
*''Handleiding bij het onderwijs der Nederlandse taal''
:("A Guide to the Teaching of Dutch")
:two vols,
Zutphen, 1859–60, numerous reprints.
*''Korte Nederlandse Spraakkunst''
:("A Concise Dutch Grammar")
:
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
, 1872.
*''Over de schrijfwijze van eenige zamenst. in het Nederlands''
:("On the Spelling of Some Compounds in Dutch")
:
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
, 1858.
*''Çakuntalā of het herkenningsteeken, Ind. tnsp. van Kālidāsa''
:("Çacuntalā or the Mark of Recognition:
Kālidāsa's Indian Play")
:Haarlem, 1862.
*''Over het aandeel van Indië en de geschiedenis van de Beschaving, en den invloed der studie van het Sanskrit op de taalwetenschap''
:("On the Share of India and the History of Civilisation, and the Influence of the Study of Sanskrit on Linguistics")
:
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
, 1865.
*''Die Glossen in der Lex Salica und die Sprache der Salischen Franken''
:("The Glosses in the
Salic Law
The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
and the Language of the Salic Franks"
ritten in German
:
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
, 1869.
*''Over de jaartelling der Zdl. Buddhisten''
:("Concerning the Chronology of the Southern Buddhists")
:a publication of the
Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
(Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), 1874.
*''Wŗttasançaya, Oud-Javaans leerdicht over versbouw'', tekst en vert.
:("Wŗttasançaya, an Old-Javanese Didactic Poem on Metrical Construction": Text and Translation)
:Leiden, 1875.
*''Eene Indische sage in Javaansch gewaad''
:("An Indian Legend in
Javanese Guise")
:a publication of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), 1876.
*''Over de oudjavaanse vertaling van 't Mahābhārata''
:("On the Old-Javanese Translation of the
Mahābhārata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
)
:a publication of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), 1877.
*''Geschiedenis van het Buddhisme in Indië''
:("A History of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
in India")
:two vols, Haarlem, 1881–83.
onsidered to be Kern's chief work.*''Over den invloed der Indische, Arabische en Europese beschaving op de volken van den Indische Archipel''
:("On the Influence of the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n,
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an
Civilisations
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of State (polity), a state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and Symbol, symbolic systems of communication beyond natural language, natur ...
on the Peoples of the Indonesian
Archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
")
:Leiden, 1883.
*''Saddharma-Pundarîka, or, the Lotus of the True Law''
:(First English translation of
Lotus Sutra
The ''Lotus Sūtra'' ( zh, 妙法蓮華經; sa, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्रम्, translit=Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, lit=Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, italic=) is one of the most influ ...
)
The Lotus Sutra Index
at www.sacred-texts.com
:Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, 1884.
*''Verklaring van eenige woorden in Pali-geschriften''
:("An Explanation of Some Words in Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
Writings")
:a publication of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), 1886.
*''De Fidji-taal vergeleken met hare verwanten in Indonesië en Polynesië''
:("The Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
Language As Compared to Its Cognates in Indonesia and Polynesia")
:Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, 1886.
*''Tekstuitgave van het Oud-Javaanse heldendicht Rāmāyana''
:("A Text Edition of the Old-Javanese Rāmāyana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...
Epic")
:The Hague, 1900.
*''De legende van Kunjarakarna''
:("The Legend of Kunjarakarna")
:Amsterdam, 1901.
*''Taalvergelijkende verhandeling over het Aneityumsch, met een Aanhangsel over het Klankstelsel van het Eromanga'' ic:("A Comparative Treatise of Aneityum: With an Appendix on the Sound System of Erromanga")
:Amsterdam, 1906.
* Hendrik Kern, ''Verspreide Geschriften,'' 's-Gravenhage, M. Nijhoff, 15 v., 1913–28.
*Numerous contributions to '' Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde'' and other learned journals.
References
Further reading
* Silk, Jonathan (2012)
Kern and the Study of Indian Buddhism: With a Speculative Note on the Ceylonese Dhammarucikas
Journal of the Pali Text Society 31, 125–154.
* Thomas, F. W.; Vogel, J. Ph.; Blagden, C. O. (January 1918)
Hendrik Kern
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, pp. 173–184
*Vetter, Tilmann (1999)
Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University for the year 1998, pp. 129–142
*
External links
Kern's English-language translation of ''Saddharma Pundarīka''
Biography in Dutch
Portrait of Professor Kern
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kern, Johan Hendrik Caspar
1833 births
1917 deaths
Dutch Indologists
Linguists from the Netherlands
Utrecht University alumni
Leiden University alumni
Leiden University faculty
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Indonesianists
Javanese language
Javanese literature
People from Purworejo Regency
Linguists of Austronesian languages