Volunteers have transcribed the Dutch State Bible from 1657 for the Internet.
The Dutch Bible "Statenvertaling" from 1657 is now available on the Internet. This has been made possible by around 100 volunteers. As part of a German-Dutch network, they have transcribed the "Statenvertaling", the tenth Bible in Dutch, and completed the Bible digitisation project.
The Bible is a completely revised new version of the first edition of the States Bible from 1637, which was digitised back in 2007. The States Bible of 1657 is also known as the Corrected Bible because it corrects numerous errors. For centuries, it formed the basis for later editions. "Many biblical quotations in literary and other works up to the 19th and 20th centuries are based on it," explains Dr Hans Beelen, a Dutch scholar from Oldenburg, who is leading and coordinating the project together with Prof Dr Nicoline van der Sijs from the University of Nijmegen. The "Statenvertaling" from 1657 is therefore of particular cultural-historical relevance. "It is a real treasure trove for research into the Dutch language," says Beelen.
The Bible digitisation project is by far the largest crowdsourcing project in Dutch philology. With a total of ten late medieval and early modern Bible translations from the period between 1477 and 1657, the volunteers have digitised more than 15 million words in just six years. For some years now, they have also been tackling non-biblical texts. Last year alone, they transcribed 30 literary and historical texts from the 16th to 19th centuries. Old letters, etymological dictionaries, dialect dictionaries and dialect surveys are also on their agenda. "The enthusiasm of the volunteers is undiminished and the academics are delighted to be able to access these sources, so we are continuing," says the Oldenburg Lowlandist.
The ten digitised Bibles:
- the Delftse Bijbel (Delft, 1477)
- the Vorstermanbijbel (Antwerp, 1528/1531)
- the Liesveltbijbel (Antwerp, 1542)
- the Leuvense Bijbel (Leuven, 1548)
- the Nieuwe Testament of Jan Utenhove (Emden, 1556)
- the Biestkensbijbel (Groessen, 1560)
- the Deux-Aesbijbel (Emden, 1562)
- the first edition of the States Bible (Leiden, 1637)
- the Luther translation of the Bible (Amsterdam, 1648)
- the corrected edition of the States Bible (Amsterdam, 1657)