Piet Meertens
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Pieter Jacobus (Piet) Meertens (
Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...
, 6 September 1899 –
Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...
, 28 October 1985) was a Dutch scholar of literature, dialects, and ethnology. He founded the institutes which later merged into the
Meertens Instituut The Meertens Institute (Dutch ''Meertens Instituut'') in Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of ...
(a research institute operated by 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 ...
), of which he was the director until 1965.


Education

Meertens attended the Stedelijk Gymnasium Middelburg, and studied Dutch 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 ...
. He was promoted in 1943 with a dissertation on literary life in Zeeland in the 16th and 17th centuries, under the direction of Cornelis de Vooys.


Career

After his studies, Meertens taught school for a few years. On 1 July 1930 he became secretary of the committee of dialects for 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 ...
(KNAW); starting with only two assistants he built a system of documentation that employed two thousands correspondents throughout the country who reported on local dialects. In 1934 the KNAW started a committee for ethnology, and Meertens presided over that committee as well, laying the foundation for the institute which was to receive his name in 1979. He was actively involved with the Phonologische Werkgemeenschap, an organization of phonologists, and when the Centrale Commissie voor Onderzoek naar het Nederlandse Volkseigen was founded in 1948, a state-supported institution that oversaw the entire field of Dutch linguistics and onomastics, Meertens was appointed president of the bureaus for dialectology, onomastics, and ethnography, a function he held until his retirement in 1965. In 1950 he was one of the founders of the Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap (AVT), the General Organization for Linguistics. In 1966 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy for Arts and Sciences.


Personality

Meertens was a progressive Christian, and a member of the small Christian Democratic Union. In the 1920s, when in Utrecht, he was a member of the board of the Dutch Association of Vegetarians. He was sympathetic to the anti-militaristic strain in the
Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...
, and visited prisoners as part of a missionary organization. Christian-Socialist friends of his were journalist Henk van Randwijk, preachers
Willem Banning Willem Banning (21 February 1888 in Makkum – 7 January 1971 in Driebergen) was a Dutch theologian, philosopher, sociologist and politician, who played an important role in Dutch 20th-century politics. Personal life Banning was born the son of ...
en Jan Buskes, and poet
Fedde Schurer Fedde Schurer (, ; 25 July 1898 – 19 March 1968) was a Dutch schoolteacher, journalist, language, language activist and politician,Klaes Dykstra and Bouke Oldenhof, ''Lyts Hânboek fan de Fryske Literatuer'', Leeuwarden (Afûk), 1997, p. 92 and ...
. From 1938 on he was active in the Comité van Waakzaamheid, an association of artists and intellectuals inspired by
Menno ter Braak Menno ter Braak (26 January 1902 – 14 May 1940) was a Dutch modernist writer, critic, essayist, and journalist. Early career Ter Braak was born in Eibergen and grew up in the town of Tiel where he was an exemplary student. He went on to th ...
which opposed the rise of fascism and nazism. But Meertens was also attached to the ideology of the
Greater Netherlands Greater Netherlands (, ) is an irredentist concept which unites the Netherlands, Flanders, and sometimes Brussels. Additionally, a Greater Netherlands state may include the annexation of the French Westhoek, Suriname, formerly Dutch-speaking a ...
, and cared more for cultural than for national boundaries; it united the Dutch and the Flemish with the Germans, though Meertens associated with Nazis unwillingly. The pro-German president of his committees, professor Jan de Vries, who fled to Germany after the war was over, was a close collaborator and persuaded Meertens to engage in pro-German activities; in 1972 Meertens said he did not realize the full scope of those activities. His role during the war began to be investigated in 2005 by a committee led by
Hermann von der Dunk Hermann or Herrmann may refer to: * Hermann (name), list of people with this name * Arminius, chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe in the 1st century, known as Hermann in the German language * Éditions Hermann, French publisher * Hermann, Mis ...
, after sociologist
Hans Derks Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...
had accused Meertens of collaboration with the Germans and the KNAW of sweeping the matter under the rug. The committee's report, published in 2006, concluded that Meertens was not guilty of collaboration, and that the institute could continue carrying his name. Meertens was actively involved with literature and published extensively. After the war he was the editor of '' De Vlam'', where he became acquainted with
Henriette Roland Holst Henriette Goverdine Anna "Jet" Roland Holst-van der Schalk (24 December 1869 – 21 November 1952) was a Dutch poet and Council communist. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. She had many noted relatives. Her husband was the art ...
. With the rest of the CDU he joined the PvdA (a social-democratic party) in 1946, and became an ecumenical Christian. P.J. Meertens is the model for A.P. Beerta in
J. J. Voskuil Johannes Jacobus Voskuil (1 July 1926, in The Hague – 1 May 2008, in Amsterdam) was a Dutch novelist known best for his epic novel ''Het Bureau''. In 1997 he won the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs for his novels ''Meneer Beerta'' and ''Vuile handen' ...
's novel cycle ''
Het Bureau Het or HET may refer to: Science and technology * Hall-effect thruster, a type of ion thruster used for spacecraft propulsion * Heavy Equipment Transporter, a vehicle in the US Army's Heavy Equipment Transport System * Hobby–Eberly Telescope, a ...
''; Voskuil worked with Meertens, and the titular ''Bureau'' ("office") is the Meertens institute.


Bibliography

*
Jan Noordegraaf Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...
, 'Bloemen voor P.J. Meertens'. ''Mededelingen van het Frederik van Eeden-genootschap'' 51 (February 2007), 95Bloemen voor P.J. Meertens
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public university, public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in ...
* Saskia Daalder, Ad Foolen & Jan Noordegraaf, ''Taalwetenschap in Nederland. Zestig jaar AVT (1950-2010)''. Amsterdam: Stichting Neerlandistiek VU & Münster: Nodus Publikationen, 2010. (Uitgaven Stichting Neerlandistiek VU, 65). / .


References


External links


''P.J. Meertens van het Meertens Instituut''
(publicatie over Meertens van het Meertens Instituut, 2002)
P.J. Meertens (1899-1985)
Digitale bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse letteren
''Bevindingen over P.J. Meertens op grond van literatuur en geraadpleegde bronnen''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meertens, Piet 1899 births 1985 deaths Dialectologists Dutch literary critics Dutch ethnologists Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Middelburg, Zeeland Utrecht University alumni 20th-century Dutch linguists