Dutch language study and the trivium

In the history of European linguistics the 16th century is known as the century in which the vernacular languages of the countries above the Alps and the Pyrenees were discovered as objects of language study. The first grammars of the Dutch language appeared in this period. The study of grammar of the Dutch language took place within the context of a continuation of the Latin trivium tradition in the vernacular. As a consequence the historiographer must take into account this context and the traditional relation of grammar to dialectic and to rhetoric respectively. The first complete trivium in Dutch appeared during 1584–87, the last one in 1648–49. In the period in between, several reprints and editions in the separate disciplines, appeared. The reason for continuation of the Latin trivium tradition in the vernacular should be explained from various circumstances. First, it was the only intellectual tradition on which the contributors to the Dutch trivium could draw. This explains for instance that the structure of the Dutch grammars is based on that of the Latin grammars. Second, Latin grammar was taken to fulfill a heuristic function in the exploration of the vernacular. Not only is the formal context of the Latin trivium model important, but also the historical pedagogical triad of ars, natura and exercitatio played an important role, especially with respect to the criteria of grammaticalness in the Dutch language. The history of the trivium was always strongly connected with the history of education. For this reason it is not surprising to see that the contributors to the Dutch trivium hoped that their work would replace the Latin school curriculum. This did not happen, however. Nevertheless, their work laid the foundations for the study of the Dutch language on which the 18th century grammarians were to build their monumental studies.