J. H. Halbertsma: Sexual Language and the Lexicon Frisicum (1872)

J. H. Halbertsma: Sexual Language and the Lexicon Frisicum (1872)1 Anne Dykstra Fryske Akademy Introduction T! 1IIe Frisian Mennonite minister and self-taught linguist and lexicographer Joost Hiddes Halbertsma may be regarded as the founding father of modern Frisian lexicography. His dictionary was the first to include Modern West Frisian, a language that is spoken in the Dutch province of Friesland. Halbertsma was born in 1789 and the Lexicon Frisicum, his magnum opus, was published in 1872, three years after his death in 1869. Halbertsma died before he could complete his dictionary. Partly due to his totally unrealistic aim of describing all present and past geographical varieties of Frisian, only part A — Feer was published.2 The Lexicon explains Frisian entry words in Latin. As a result the vast majority of the Frisians (or the Dutch) could not 'This article is based on a paper read at the XV Biennial Meeting of die Dictionary Society ofNorth America, June 8-11, 2005 in Boston, Massachusetts. Part of die current subject matter has been briefly discussed in Dykstra (1998). 2Halbertsma arranged entry words according to etymological and/or morphosemantic principles, that is, in practice the Lexicon has entry words uiat alphabetically go beyond FEER. Between DYK ('dike') and DIKELJE ('run to and fro') , for instance, we find die entry words kâi-dyk, mar-dyk, mœr-dyk, mounle-dyk, polder-dyk, sea-dyk, syl-diken and simmer-dyk. The last entry word in the dictionary is forfearje. Dictionaries:Journal ofthe Dictionary Society ofNorth America 27 (2006), 21-35. 22Anne Dykstra read the Lexicon Frisicum. Above all else Halbertsma was Frisian, and he had a romantic tendency to regard the Frisians as noble and decent in both language and behavior. He had rather strong views on how linguists and lexicographers should regard taboo words and expressions. In the present article I will discuss Halbertsma's scholarly and personal views on sexual language, and I will show how he dealt widi it in his dictionary.3 Halbertsma as Linguist and Lexicographer The start of Halbertsma's linguistic career more or less coincided with the beginning of the Romantic movement, which began in the late eighteenth century and soon spread over Europe. Around the turn of the century, it became quite an influential social and political movement. Romanticism entailed a great interest in history. Historical awareness was a typical feature oflinguistics and odier areas of die humanities , and it was one of the characteristics of nineteenth century middle-class society in Europe, too. The past was a means to assess and explain the present. Scholars all over Europe strove to find die relics of the idealized Middle Ages among the (rural, uneducated) people. They collected folk tales, folk songs, and fairy tales. Romantic linguistics was word-oriented, and there was a great interest in etymology and historical comparative studies. Linguists focused on vernacular languages and dialects, and everyday spoken language was thought to be superior to written, bookish language. A people and its language were considered one. National language, national character, and national culture were assumed to be interrelated. A nice illustration of this is Halbertsma's own statement: "language is the very soul of the nation, it is die nation itself."4 This state- 'Further information on Halbertsma's Lexicon Frisicum is to be found in Dykstra (2001). 4The original Dutch text reads: "de taal is de ziel der natie, zij is de natie zelve." The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal does not acknowledge the source of the motto, and I have not been able to find a literal equivalent of it in Halbertsma 's work. Breuker (1981b, 16) and Tollenaere (1981, 199) assume that Halbertsma (1851, 3) may have been the Woordenboek's source: "Uit het diepste der nationale ziel [ ... ] opgeweld, is de taal die ziel, die natie zelve" ('welled up from the depths of the national soul, language is that soul, the nation itself'). Sexual Language and the Lexicon Frisicum (1872)23 ment was chosen as one of the two mottos in the scholarly Woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal (Dictionary ofthe Dutch Language), the first installment of which was published in 1864. Eventually Romanticism came under the influence of nationalist thought. National...