Richard Constant Boer (31 January 1863,

Warnsveld Warnsveld is a town in the eastern Netherlands, about 2 km east of Zutphen. History The first mention of the village in writing is from the year 1121 as Wansveld, and means "field of Warin or Warni (person)". Warnsveld developed in the Mid ...

- 20 August 1929,

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 ...

) was a Dutch linguist who specialized in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

Academic History

Boer received his Ph.D. in 1888 from the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

for his edition of Örvar-Odds saga. From 1888 to 1900, he taught Dutch and geography at the gymnasium in

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

. He was also a professor of Old Norse at Groningen from 1894 to 1900, and after 1900, professor of

Old Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

and

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 ...

at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. In 1921, the study of Scandinavian languages was officially established at the University of Amsterdam. R.C. Boer maintained his focus on Old Norse and Old Norse literature, and in the 1920s, his teaching extended to the modern Scandinavian languages (

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

, and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

) and their literature.

Publications

Örvar-Odds Saga
(Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1888)
Bjarnar saga Hítdoelakappa
(Halle A.S.: M. Niemeyer. 1893)

(Halle A.S.: M. Niemeyer. 1898)
Grettis Saga Asmundarsonar
(Halle A.S.: M. Niemeyer. 1900)
Untersuchungen über den Ursprung und die Entwicklung der Nibelungensage
(3 vols.; Halle A.S. Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses. 1906, 1907, 1909) * De Liederen van Hildebrand en Hadubrand (Johannes Müller. 1909)
Die Sagen von Ermanarich und Dietrich von Bern
(Halle a.d.S.: Buchhandlung des Weisenhauses. 1910)
Methodologische Bemerkunger über die Untersuchung der Heldensage: Eine Auseinandersetzung mit Andreas Heusler
(Amsterdam: Johannes Müller. 1911)
Die Altenglische Heldendichtung: Béowulf
(Halle a.d.S.: Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses. 1912)
Studiën over de Metriek van het Alliteratievers
(Amsterdam: Johannes Müller. 1916)
Korte Deensche Spraakkunst
(Haarlem: H.D.T. Willink & Zoon. 1918) * Syncope en Consonantengeminatie: Studiën over Oudnoorsche Spraakleer (Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche Taal- en Letterkunde 37. E.J. Brill. 1918. pp. 161–222)
Oudnoorsch Handboek
(Haarlem: H.D.T. Willink & Zoon. 1920)
Die Edda: Einleitung und Text
(Haarlem: H.D.T. Willink & Zoon. 1922)
Die Edda mit Historisch-Kritischem Commentar
(Haarlem: H.D.T. Willink & Zoon. 1922)
Noorwegens Letterkunde in de Negentiende Eeuw
(Haarlem: De Erven F. Bohn. 1922) * Oergermaansch Handboek (Haarlem: H.D.T. Willink & Zoon. 1924)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boer, Richard Constant 1863 births 1929 deaths Germanic studies scholars University of Groningen faculty University of Amsterdam faculty Linguists from the Netherlands People from Warnsveld Old Norse studies scholars