Willem Caland (August 27, 1859 – March 23, 1932) was a Dutch

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

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 strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...

, and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

. He studied in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

and graduated in 1882. In

Indo-European studies Indo-European studies () is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical p ...

, the Caland system is named after him.

Biography

Caland was born on August 27, 1859 to Pieter, a hydraulic engineer who became well known for working on the

Nieuwe Waterweg The Nieuwe Waterweg ("New Waterway") is a ship canal in the Netherlands from Scheur, het Scheur (a branch of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta) west of the town of Maassluis to the North Sea at Hook of Holland: the #Maasmon, Maasmond, where the Nieu ...

, and Helena Carolina (). From a young age, he struggled with a heart condition after an attack of "synovial rheumatism" that kept him from any strenuous exertion. Interested in literature from an early age, he attended the

Gymnasium Haganum The Gymnasium Haganum is one of the oldest Public school (government funded), public schools in the Netherlands, located in the city of The Hague. First mentioned in 1327, the school is currently housed in a monumental Renaissance Revival architec ...

and later successfully completed his entrance exams to university, registering as a student at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...

in 1877. There, he attended lectures on

classical language According to the definition by George L. Hart, a classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large body of ancient written literature. Classical languages are usually extinct languages. Those that are still ...

s, most notably H. Kern's lectures on

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

. After completing his doctoral examination in 1882, he was appointed to teach classical languages in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

. He obtained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

from the University of Leiden within a year with his thesis focusing on Roman

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

, nominally under the advisor Carel Gabriel Cobet, but he primarily sought help from Jan Jacob Cornelissen. The same year, he married Jennij Elisabeth van Hettinga Tromp, with whom he had one daughter. In 1887, he moved to

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

, where he became conrector at the local gymnasium. In 1897, he became member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

. His heart condition was severe enough that it kept him from traveling to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

for his studies. With the support of Kern, he initially focused on ancient Indian

ancestor worship The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...

and related topics. His understanding of the

historical Vedic religion The historical Vedic religion, also called Vedism or Brahmanism, and sometimes ancient Hinduism or Vedic Hinduism, constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontin ...

earned him significant prominence, particularly his studies of the

brahmana The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedas, Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rigveda, Rig, Samaveda, Sama, Yajurveda, Yajur, and Athar ...

s and translations and commentaries on the

sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

s. He began teaching Sanskrit at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

in 1902. In February 1903, he was appointed as a lecturer of Indology, which he converted into a

comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness implies a common origin or proto-language and comparative linguistics aim ...

professorship for comparisons between Indo-Aryan and

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...

in June 1906. He turned down an appointment to the

in 1913. In May 1917, his position was converted to an ordinariate, which added

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

and

to his professorship. He also served as a part of the management for the . On March 23, 1932, Caland died in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

as a result of his heart condition.

Selected works

* ''Altindischer Ahnencult'' (, 1893) * ''Die altindischen Todten- und Bestattungsgebräuche'' (, 1896) * ''Altindisches Zaubermaterial'' (, 1900) * ''L'agniṣṭoma. Description complète de la forme normale du Sacrifice de Soma dans le culte védique'' (, 1906-7; written with Victor Henry) * ''Altindisch Zauberei. Darstellung der altindischen "Wundschopfer"'' (, 1908)

References

*W. Caland, Kleine Schriften... Hrsg. M. Witzel (Wiesbaden, 1990).
Biography in DutchJeremy Rau, "The Indo-Iranian Caland System"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caland, Willem 1859 births 1932 deaths Dutch Indologists Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Brielle Dutch Sanskrit scholars Dutch philologists 19th-century linguists 20th-century Dutch linguists Leiden University alumni