Jan de Vries (philologist)

Jan de Vries (1932)

Jan Pieter Marie Laurens de Vries (11 February 1890 – 23 July 1964) was a Dutch scholar of Germanic linguistics and Germanic mythology, from 1926 to 1945 ordinarius at Leiden University and author of reference works still in use today.

During the German occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War, de Vries was part of the Nederlandsche Kultuurkamer, a National Socialist censorship body corresponding to the Kulturkammer, and prominent in the Ahnenerbe. In a 1940 pamphlet and in radio speeches, he demonstrated sympathy for Nazi ideology; in 1944 he fled to Leipzig. After the war, he was imprisoned and stripped of his academic position.

De Vries was born in Amsterdam and demonstrated anti-democratic views before the war; he had a great enthusiasm for German culture. However, he rejected the doctrine of the "Nordic race", and was frequently criticized by influential Nazis for insisting on differentiating Dutch culture from German, and for specific actions, such as seeking to found a new journal that would be open to anti-Nazi contributions, and planning to make Ethnography a full subject of study at a Catholic university. He refused to join the Nazi Party, and in the preface to De Germanen in 1941 warned against "an all too uncritical mode of thought." At his trial for collaboration the verdict was that in spite of "personal moral integrity" he had committed "very serious political errors." He was sentenced to time served in internment and was able to resume his research and publishing while teaching Dutch from 1948 to 1955 in Oostburg, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. He died, aged 74, in Utrecht.

His scholarly work was not tainted by Nazi ideology, and continues to be respected and often cited in Germanic studies, particularly the two two-volume comprehensive studies, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, still the fullest overview of Germanic religion, and Altnordische Literaturgeschichte, a basic reference work on Old Norse literature. In the Netherlands his translations and his etymological and place-name work were also important.

De Vries became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1938, his membership was suspended in May 1945.

Bibliography

An ex libris plate from a book belonging to Jan de Vries.

Selected publications:

• Studiën over Færösche Balladen, diss. Amsterdam, 1915; Heidelberg: Rother, 1922.
• De Wikingen in de lage landen bij de zee, Haarlem, 1923.
• translation: Henrik Ibsen, Zes Voordrachten, Maastricht, 1924.
• De Germaansche Oudheid, Haarlem, 1930.
• Contributions to the Study of Othin: Especially in his Relation to Agricultural Practices in Modern Popular Lore, FFC 94, Helsinki, 1931.
• The Problem of Loki, FFC 110, Helsinki, 1932.
• Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 2 vols. Vol. 1, (Grundriß der Germanischen Philologie 12.1), Berlin-Leipzig: de Gruyter, 1935, 2nd rev. ed. 1956, Vol. 2 (Grundriß der Germanischen Philologie 12.2), Berlin-Leipzig: de Gruyter, 1937, 2nd rev. ed. 1957 (3rd ed. 1970, repr. 2000).
• Wulfilae Codices Ambrosiani Rescripti, Epistularum Evangelicarum Textum Goticum Exhibentes, Phototypice editi et prooemio instructi a Jano de Vries, Bibliothecae Ambrosianae Codices quam simillime expressi, 3 vols., Turin, 1936.
• Edda, vertaald en van inleidingen voorzien, Amsterdam, 1938, 2nd rev. ed. Amsterdam, 1942, (3rd ed. 1943, 4th ed. 1944, 5th ed. 1952, 6th ed. 1978, 7th ed. 1980, 8th ed. 1988).
• De Germaansche Oudheid, 1930; rev. ed. as De Germanen, Haarlem, 1941.
• De Wetenschap der Volkskunde (Hoekstenen onzer Volkskultuur 1), Amsterdam, 1941.
• Altnordische Literaturgeschichte, 2 vols. Vol. 1 (Grundriß der germanischen Philologie 15), Berlin-Leipzig: de Gruyter, 1941, 2nd rev. ed. 1964 repr. 1970, Vol. 2 (Grundriß der germanischen Philologie 16), Berlin: de Gruyter, 1942, rev. ed. 1967 repr. 1970 (3rd ed. 1 vol. 1999 ISBN 3-11-016330-6 ).
• Die Geistige Welt der Germanen, Halle a.d. Saale: Niemeyer, 1943 (2nd ed. 1945, 3rd ed. Darmstadt, 1964).
• De Goden der Germanen, Amsterdam, 1944.
• Het Nibelungenlied, 2 vols. Vol 1 Sigfried, de Held van Nederland, Vol. 2 Kriemhilds Wraak, Antwerp, 1954.
• Etymologisch Woordenboek: Waar komen onze woorden en plaatsnamen vandaan?, Utrecht-Antwerp, 1958, 2nd rev. ed. 1959.
• Heldenlied en Heldensage, Utrecht-Antwerp, 1959; tr. as Heroic Song and Heroic Legend, Oxford, 1963.
• Kelten und Germanen (Bibliotheca Germanica 9), Bern, 1960.
• Altnordisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, Leiden, 1961 (2nd ed. 1963).
• Keltische Religion, (Die Religionen der Menschheit 18), Stuttgart, 1961.
• Godsdienstgeschiedenis in Vogelvlucht, Utrecht-Antwerp, 1961.
• Forschungsgeschichte der Mythologie, (Orbis Academicus 1.7), Freiburg, 1961.
• Woordenboek der Noord- en Zuidnederlandse Plaatsnamen, Utrecht-Antwerp, 1962.

See also

• Mythography