Justus Hiddes Halbertsma

Justus Hiddes Halbertsma ( ; ; 23 October 1789 – 27 February 1869) was a Frisian writer, poet, minister, lexicographer and linguist. Today, he is primarily known for the poetry and short story collection De Lapekoer fan Gabe Skroar, which he wrote with his brother Eeltsje, publishing the first edition in 1822. Afterwards, this work was continually expanded, and also came to include contributions by a third brother, Tsjalling, until all the Halbertsma Brothers' prose and poetry was posthumously collected in 1871 to become the famous work Rimen en Teltsjes. it is undeniable that Rimen en Teltsjes played a role of crucial importance in the development of a new literary tradition after Western Frisian had been used almost exclusively as a spoken language for three centuries.

Life Youth and background Justus Hiddes Halbertsma was born on 23 October 1789 in the village of Grou, in the central part of the Dutch province of Friesland, He was the eldest son of the baker and small-time merchant Hidde Joasts Halbertsma (1756–1809) and his wife Ruerdtsje (or Riurtk) He had three younger brothers: Tsjalling (1792–1852), Justus, Tsjalling and Eeltsje, who, as authors, became known as the Brothers Halbertsma later in life, About Hidde Halbertsma, the father, much less is known. It is thought that he might have been a mariner before his marriage. In that period he also immersed himself in the study of the North Germanic languages. Firstly, he wanted to preserve the Western Frisian language by using it for writing again after it had been used almost exclusively as a spoken language for three centuries. From that it followed that he had to get the Frisians to read in their own language (otherwise, writing it would not be of much use), and that he should record the Frisian vocabulary in a dictionary, which would be the first dictionary ever of the Frisian language. As Halbertsma remained the editor of Eeltsje's work for his entire life, their poetry and short fiction were strongly connected and published together from the very beginning. For that reason the linguist Foeke Buitenrust Hettema would describe Halbertsma later as the 'literary agent' of his brothers Eeltsje and Tsjalling. This character was in all probability a creation of Eeltsje's. Those were not sold, however, but at the expense of Halbertsma presented to acquaintances of his all over Friesland. In that way he awoke among his public a desire for more reading-matter of this nature. After that, additions were published separately in 1836 (De Noarger Rún oan Gabe Skroar), 1840 (Twigen út in Alde Stamme), 1854 (Leed en Wille en de Flotgerzen), and 1858 (De Jonkerboer and Teltsjes fan de Wize Mannen fan Esonstêd). By the end of his life, Halbertsma assisted in the editing of a portion of Rimen en Teltsjes (Rhymes and Tales), the comprehensive publication in which all the Halbertsma Brothers' literary works were collected. He even wrote some new pieces for it, such as the short story It Grouwe Pak ("The Thick Suit").

As a writer, Halbertsma strongly sensed what the public needed, but at the same time he was a somewhat distant and cerebral author, which tended to have an averse effect on his poetry, especially compared to the poems of his brother Eeltsje, who was a much more emotional writer. Nevertheless, at least some of Halbertsma's poems, for instance Sibbel fan De Ryp ("Sibbel from De Ryp") and Nacht ("Night") have made a lasting impression. That said, Halbertsma's short stories were much more acute thanks to his limber use of language, his lively style of writing, and the fact that he refused to mince his words, leading to a rough, scoffing, and sometimes darkly grim atmosphere. Miswier ("Continuously Bad Weather") and De Twadde Jûn ("The Second Evening") are also extensive frame-stories, and De Skearwinkel fan Joutebaas ("Boss Joute's Barbershop") is a dialogue, which includes the intriguing and completely stand-alone story Heksershol ("Hole of Witchcraft" – an old nickname for the village of Molkwerum). a story inspired by a great storm in 1830, in which a tornado has blown thoughts and motifs together like whirling leaves. Oan Eölus could perhaps be seen as a clue that Halbertsma harboured greater literary aspirations than would fit in the De Lapekoer fan Gabe Skroar. More than fifty years he laboured to complete his dictionary of Western Frisian titled Lexicon Frisicum, for which he chose Latin as the descriptive language, but it remained unfinished. He organised it along the lines of the German dictionary by the Brothers Grimm, but became enmeshed in the addition of insertions and in reworkings, and in writing long semantic etymologies, a part of the work for which he especially had a predilection.

Furthermore, Halbertsma was the driving force behind the commemoration of the life of the famous 17th century Frisian poet Gysbert Japiks in 1823, which is seen by some as the starting point of the Frisian Movement. Afterwards he published an extensive literary history work under the title Hulde aan Gysbert Japiks ("Hail to Gysbert Japiks") in two parts in 1824 and 1827. However, it is considered much more likely that the true author of the Oera Linda Book was the librarian Eelco Verwijs, who lead the Provincial Library of Friesland and who had befriended Halbertsma, or possibly the writer François Haverschmidt or the ship carpenter and self-taught freethinker Cornelis over de Linden. In 1871, it was published by the firm of J. de Lange in Deventer, under the title of Rimen en Teltsjes ("Rhymes and Tales"). As of today Rimen en Teltsjes still occupies the first slot in the ranking of Western Frisian literary classics.

Halbertsma also gave to the Province of Friesland, in part when he was still alive, his extensive library of scientific books, which was added to the Provincial Library of Friesland, en is to this day available for scientific research purposes at Tresoar. A large collection of letters written by and to Halbertsma, including hundreds to his brothers Eeltsje en Tsjalling, long remained in the custody of the Halbertsma family, until they were given, in the course of the 20th century, on permanent loan to the Frisian Literary Museum and Documentation Centre (FLMD), which became part of Tresoar in 2002.