Joan Josua Ketelaar
1659 – 1718 merchant, writer of the first Hindustani grammar (in Dutch) |
Curriculum vitae
| 1659 | born in Elbląg (Poland) on December 25 |
| 1682 | entered the service of the VOC |
| 1683 | clerk and assistant in Surat |
| 1701-1707 | director of the VOC office in Agra |
| 1705-1708 | head of two Arabian missions of purchasing coffee |
| 1708-1711 | senior merchant of the VOC office in Surat |
| 1711-1715 | director of trade of the VOC office in Surat |
| 1715-1718 | director of the trade in Persia |
| 1718 | returned to the Netherlands, and died in Gombroon (now: Bandar Abbas, Iran) on May 12 |
Sources
- Vogel, J.Ph., “Joan Josua Ketelaar of Elbing, author of the first Hindūstānī grammar,” BSOAS 8,2-3 (1936): 817-822.
- Vogel, J.Ph., Journaal van J. J. Ketelaar’s hofreis naar den groot mogol te Lahore, 1711-1713, ‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1937 (Werken uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging 41).
- Vogel, J.Ph., De eerste ‘grammatica’ van het Hindoestansch, Amsterdam 1941 (MKNAW 4,15).
- Bodewitz, H.W., “Ketelaar and Millius and their grammar of Hindustani,” BDCRI 54-55 (Sir William Jones commemoration volume) (1994-1995)[1996]: 123-131.
Publications
1698 Instructie off onderwijsinge der Hindoustanse en Persiaanse talen, nevens hare declinatie en conjugatie, als mede vergeleijkinge, der hindoustanse med de hollandse maat en gewighten mitsgaders beduijdingh eeniger Moorse namen etc., door Jean Josua Ketelaar, Elbingensum engecopieert door Jsaacq van der Hoeve, van Uijtreght tot Leckenauw AD. 1698. [= Instruction or teaching of the Hindustānī and Persian languages, including their declension and conjugation also comparison of the Hindustān ī with the Dutch measure and weights and the meaning of some Moorish names etc., by Jean Josua Ketelaar of Elbing copied by Jsaacq van der Hoeve, of Utrecht at Lucknow A.D. 1698 (transl by Tej K. Bhatia and K. Machida). – Unpublished manuscript.
1743 Latin adaptation of the Dutch by David Mill in his Dissertationes selectae (full title: Davidis Millii S.S. Theologiae D. ejusdemque, nec non antiquitatum sacrarum, & linguarum Orientalum, in Academia Trajectina, professoris ordinaii dissertationes selectae, varia s. litterarum et antiquitatis orientalis capita, exponentes et illustrantes ), Lugduni Batavorum, pp. 455-601.
1965 Partial translation from the Dutch into English, by H.W. Bodewitz: Joan Josua Ketelaar, Instruction in Persian and Hindostani with their declensions and coniugations, as well as a comparison of Hindostani and Dutch measures and weights, together with the explanation of some Moorish names etc. on in Persian and Hindostani with their declensions and coniugations, as well as a comparison of Hindostani and Dutch measures and weights, together with the explanation of some Moorish names etc., [s.l.]. – Unpublished typoscript [ca. 1965].
1965 Translation from the Latin into English, by H.W. Bodewitz: David Millius, Oriental miscellany: [the sections on Hindustani from Dissertationes Selectae], s.l. – Unpublished typoscript [ca. 1965].
2008 The oldest grammar of Hindustānī: contact, communication and colonial legacy, 3 vols., by Tej K. Bhatia and Kazuhiko Machida, Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2008. – Vol. 1: Historical and cross-cultural contexts, grammar corpus and analysis; vol. 2: Lexical corpus and analysis [Ketelaar’s section 1-45], vol. 3: Ketelaar: original manuscript [1698 A.D.].
1929 English translation: “Embassy of Mr. Johan Josua Ketelaar, Ambassador of the Dutch East India Company to the Great Moguls Shāh ‘Alam Bahādur Shāh and Jahāndār Shāh,” translated from the Dutch by D. Kuenen-Wicksteed and annotated by J.Ph. Vogel. Journal of the Panjab History Society 10,1 (1929): 1-94.