Égide de Boeck was born on 13 November 1875 in Oppuurs, Belgium. He was a priest, religious and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

in the then

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

. He died on 20 December 1944.

Life

De Boeck grew up in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

. His father was a primary school teacher, his mother a very devout woman. He had several younger brothers and sisters: Alphonse, a priest in Belgium, Marlo, Achilles and Jules, both missionaries in Scheut, a sister who worked as a nun in the Philippines and a brother who married.Biography on Aequatoria
/ref> After secondary school in Malines, he entered the novitiate of the missionaries of Scheut in 1894. He was ordained a priest on July 1, 1900 and was sent to New Antwerp (now

Makanza Makanza or Mankanza is a town in the Province of Équateur, Équateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, headquarters of Makanza Territory, Makanza territory. History Makanza was formerly known as Bangala Station and then as Nouvell ...

) in the Congo on September 1 of the same year. From 1913 to 1916 he was

Apostolic Prefect An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

of Kasaï Supérieur. On 8 May 1921 he was ordained

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Azotus. Already on 4 January 1921 he took up the office of Apostolic Vicar of New Antwerp, which he held until 27 January 1936. On that day he was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Lisala as a result of the reorganization of the Congolese dioceses, which he remained until his death.Register of Lisala
/ref>

Lingala

As the son of a teacher, the school system was important to de Boeck. From the very beginning, he was committed to improving education in the Belgian Congo. On his travels, he always paid special attention to schools and introduced school inspectors. He discovered that there were many variants of Bangala spoken in the region. He gathered all available information and unified it into a standard language, the

Lingala Lingala (or Ngala, Lingala: ) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser de ...

. This work resulted in a translation of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

and a

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

and

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

.Grammaire et Vocabulaire de Lingala, 1904. His linguistic work was always a means to an end, especially for the school. Sometimes criticism is voiced that de Boeck introduced Lingala everywhere and displaced the local languages. This may be partially true, since the limited possibilities of the missionaries did not allow them to write textbooks for over 200 languages. On the other hand, de Boeck always advocated that the local languages should be cultivated alongside the Lingala and that, for example, religious instruction should explicitly not be held at Lingala. For Lingombe, Ebudja and Gbaka he had corresponding teaching materials created.

Varia

The Égide-de-Bœck cultural centres in Mongala, Équateur and Southern Ubangi are named after de Boeck.

Publications

By Égide de Boeck

* Langue congolaise. Exercices de lecture à l'usage des colonies de l'état par un père de la Congrégation de Scheut. Brüssel, s.a.: J. Lebègue & Cie. * Cours théorique et pratique de lingala, avec vocabulaire et phrases usuelles. Antwerpen, 1942: Impr. Saint Norbert. * Eenige begrippen van lingala : met woordenlijst en gebruikelijke volzinnen = Quelques notions du lingala avec vocabulaire et phrases actuelles. Brüssel, 1914: Impr. Th. Dewarichet. * Grammaire et Vocabulaire de lingala. Neu Antwerpen, 1904: Mission du Sacré Cœur.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boeck, Egide De 1875 births 1944 deaths Linguists from Belgium Flemish priests Belgian expatriates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lingala language Linguists from the Democratic Republic of the Congo Linguists of Bantu languages 20th-century Belgian Roman Catholic priests People from Puurs-Sint-Amands