Johan Hendrik van Dale (15 February 1828 - 19 May 1872) was a Dutch teacher, archivist, and

lexicographer 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 ...

. He created '' Van Dale's Great Dictionary of the Dutch Language'' ( nl, Van Dale Groot woordenboek van de Nederlandse taal); first published in 1874, after his death. It was, and in its subsequent editions remains, the leading dictionary of the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

Biography

Van Dale's parents were from

Eeklo Eeklo () is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises only the town of Eeklo proper. The name ''Eeklo'' comes from the contraction of "eke" and "lo", two Old German words meaning ''oak'' and ''sp ...

, in the Flemish province of

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

, Belgium. There was a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic in

Meetjesland The Meetjesland is a historical region in the north-west of the province East Flanders in Belgium. Etymology There are many legends surrounding the origin of the name. The most known is the one of Emperor Charles V (Charles V) who was known for h ...

, in East Flanders: Abram (Abraham) van Dale (1799-1837) and his pregnant wife Pietje (Pieternella Johanna du Bois, 1802-1865) fled from it to Sluis, in the Netherlands; where their son, Johan Hendrik, was born. Johan Hendrik must have been an excellent student and scholar. At the age of 16, he was awarded an official teaching certificate (''onderwijsbevoegdheid''), fourth class. Four years later, he was promoted to the second class. In 1854, he was appointed headmaster of the public school in Sluis. In 1857, he was appointed honorary city archivist. He wrote textbooks about the importance of clarity in language, and articles about the history of Sluis. In 1866, he published his first lexigraphical work: ''Taalkundig handboekje, of alphabetische lijst van alle Nederlandsche woorden, die wegens spelling of taalkundig gebruik aan eenige bedenking onderhevig zijn'' ("''Linguistic handbook, or alphabetical list of all Dutch words which, on account of their spelling or linguistic use, may be open to objection''"). In 1867, he was asked to revise the ''Nieuw woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal'' ("''New Dictionary of the Dutch Language''" ( nl)) of 1864 by and , which used the obsolete Siedenbeek spelling ( nl) rather than the recently-proposed De Vries and Te Winkel spelling ( nl). He accepted the task, and completed it within four years. He wrote in the preface to the first edition, of 1872: The dictionary was in its final stages of completion - the first volume had already been published - when, in 1872, van Dale caught smallpox, and died of it. His pupil (''kwekeling'' ( nl)) saw the rest of it through to publication. The first edition of the ''Groot woordenboek'' received some criticism for not upholding academic standards of correctness; but was also widely praised. From its fourth edition on, and in its later revisions, van Dale's name has been attached to the ''Groot woordenboek'' as a sign of its authority in all matters concerning the Dutch language.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dale, Johan Hendrik van 1828 births 1872 deaths People from Sluis Dutch lexicographers 19th-century lexicographers