A 'Classic' cover (2)

Albert Willem de Groot (1892-1963)

As the seal in my previous blog post points out, the sender of this cover had some kind of connection with the University of Amsterdam's Institute of Classical languages. Nowadays the study in Ancient Greek & Latin is still practiced in Amsterdam, although the average quality of its students will stand by sharp contrast with the students of Professor De Groot. Prior to WWII, Classics was deemed the most valuable and esteemed study you could possibly follow and it was appreciated as such until the late sixties when other studies began to emerge. The translating abilities of students Classics dwindled since then, as the Latin and Greek curriculum at grammar schools was sharply reduced.

Willem de Groot was born in Groningen on the 13th of January 1892. A part of his obituary reads as follows:

"Willem de Groot werd in 1892 in Groningen geboren en liet zich in 1909 aan de Rijksuniversiteit aldaar inschrijven als student in de Klassieke Letteren na slechts vijf jaar over het gymnasium gedaan te hebben dank zij het met goed gevolg afleggen van het zg. Staatsexamen vanuit de vijfde klasse. Zijn belangstelling beperkte zich niet tot de oude talen, doch betrof tevens linguistiek, philosophie en psychologie. ...

... Nog geen dertig jaar oud wordt hij dan benoemd als hoogleraar in de klassieke taal- en letterkunde aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Dertig jaren heeft hij dit ambt bekleed. Hoewel hij voordien zich vooral bezig hield met de Klassieken in het algemeen, kan men reeds een aankondiging van zijn toekeer naar de algemene taalkunde beluisteren uit de titel van zijn oratie: ‘Over veranderde denkwijzen en nieuwe problemen in de Latijnse taalwetenschap’;"

"In 1892 Willem de Groot was born in Groningen. He was enrolled as student of classical philology at the State University in that city in 1909, after completing grammar school in just five years [instead of the regular six]. Apart from his interest in the classical languages, he was also charmed with linguistics, philosophy and psychology. ...

... Not yet having reached the age of thirty, he was appointed as professor in classics at the University of Amsterdam. For thirty years he held this position. Although he was primarily occupied with classics in his early years, one could already perceive a signal of his interest in linguistics when reading the title of his inaugural lecture : 'On the changing way of thinking and new problems in Latin linguistics';"

Apart from his contributions to the classical languages, Prof De Groot aimed for a practical approach to sounds and morphology in Dutch. This 'structuralist-functionalist' way of 'reading' a language was new and he fully dedicated himself to this project after the war. Together with Anton Reichling he created the journal Lingua, International Review of General Linguistics in 1948. After teaching classics and linguistics at the University of British Columbia between 1951 and 1956, he returned to the Netherlands and became professor of general and comparative linguistics in Utrecht. His lectures were of a brilliant quality:

"De omvangrijke kennis, het diepe inzicht en de jarenlange ervaring van De Groot kwamen eerst hier ten volle tot hun recht. De brillante geleerde trad ook met de eenvoudigste deelnemers in een eerlijke discussie, waarbij allen wisten dat alleen maar de objectieve stand van zaken de beslissing teweeg kon en mocht brengen. Men hoort het hem nóg zeggen: ‘Alleen maar de feiten, maar dan ook die alléén’."

"De Groot's extensive knowledge, profound understanding and his experience of many years reached their full in his classes. The brilliant scientist also debated sincerely with the most ordinary of participants, but all took into account that only an objective state of affairs might result in a decision. One could still hear him saying: "Only the facts, nothing else!"."

Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957)

Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957) had about the same age of De Groot and had more things in common with the Dutch professor. A Cambridge graduate in Ancient Greek, Ogden became a fervent advocate of Basic English from 1925 onwards. Basic English in essence is a simplified subset of regular English to be used as an aid for teaching English as a second language. Because of his particular legacy, other activities of this influential linguist have been somewhat forgotten. He, for instance, also founded the weekly, later on quarterly The Cambridge Magazine in 1912 to which noted literary figures contributed, including Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. In addition he translated over 15 books from French and German during the interbellum.

Now the question remains what the contents were of the letter Willem de Groot sent to Ogden in 1948. My educated guess would be that De Groot wanted to share some thoughts about his new magazine, Lingua, since the first edition was published that year... I haven't found any evidence (yet) that the two scientists knew each other personally, so I think we can exclude the possibility of an ordinary Christmas /wishing card. You will never know for sure, of course!

There is one fitting puzzle which still need to be solved: what about the marks under the 'par avion' label? They're quite illegible: no basic English to me!