Matthijs Siegenbeek (Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, 23 June 1774 - Leiden, 26 November 1854) was a Dutch academic. From 1797 to 1847 he was the first professor of the Dutch language

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 at the University of Leiden. From 1803 he was the member, then secretary, of the head-office of that university's literary faculty. Initially he was a Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

 voorganger

Minister of religion

In Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community...

 in Dokkum

Dokkum

Dokkum is a Dutch fortified town in the municipality of Dongeradeel in the province of Friesland. It has 13,145 inhabitants . The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the bolwerken . - History :...

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Spelling-Siegenbeek

In 1804 Siegenbeek set out the official spelling

History of Dutch orthography

The History of Dutch Orthography covers the changes in spelling of Dutch both in the Netherlands itself and in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in Belgium.- Dutch spelling in the Middle Ages :...

 of Dutch. This was attacked by the poet Willem Bilderdijk

Willem Bilderdijk

Willem Bilderdijk , Dutch poet, the son of an Amsterdam physician. When he was six years old an accident to his foot incapacitated him for ten years, and he developed habits of continuous and concentrated study...

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Works

• Verhandeling over de Nederduitsche spelling ter bevordering van de eenparigheid in dezelve, 1804
• Woordenboek voor de Nederduitsche spelling, 1805
• Betoog van den rijkdom en de voortreffelijkheid der Nederlandsche taal, en opgave der middelen om de toenemende verbastering van dezelve tegen te gaan, 1810
• Over de middelen ter vorming van een Nationaal Tooneel, 1817
• Beknopte Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde, 1826
• De eer van Wagenaar en die van Jacoba van Beijeren, 1835

External links

• http://www.leidenuniv.nl/mare/arx/lustrum/11.html
• http://www.iisg.nl/collections/akademiebibliotheek/papers/leydens_ramp.php
• http://www.onzetaal.nl/dossier/spelling/spellingsiegenbeek.php