"You, Lowlander, whoever you are,
Do you love Dutch?
Then you must also love Kiliaan. "
Ode to Kiliaan by Lipsius.
Cornelis Kiliaan (1528/1530-1607)
For 50 years, Kiliaan works as proofreader in the Officina Plantiniana. The widower and his three children also live in the house on the Vrijdagmarkt. When Plantin plans to publish a dictionary of Dutch, he asks Kiliaan to be his collaborator. Dictionaries will become Kiliaan’s life’s work.
Etymologicum teutonicae lingua
Cornelis Kiliaan writes the first Dutch dictionary, accounting for 40,000 keywords. He regards the Brabants dialect as well as 'real' Dutch. Kiliaan goes beyond just listing Dutch words. He also explains the meaning. Therefore, he compares them with words from other languages.
Top work
Cornelis Kiliaan, Etymologicum teutonicae linguae, Jan Moretus, 1599
