ИСТИНА

The present report dwells on contribution made by Johann Friedrich Carl Gericke (1778―1857) and Taco Roorda (1801―1874), two outstanding scholars and enthusiasts of science, without whom it is hard to imagine development of the Dutch humanities in the 19th century. Their main area of expertise is research in the sphere of the Javanese language, i.e. compiling textbooks, grammar books and dictionaries. The Great Javanese-Dutch Dictionary (Gericke J. F. C., Roorda T. Javaansch-Nederduitsch Woordenboek) published in 1847, 1875 and 1901 may be called their lifetime project. J.F.C. Gericke is well known for his classic translations of the Bible into Javanese, whereas T. Roorda was engaged in translations of literary works. Besides, both of them contributed a lot to the organization of teaching and academic institutions for training experts in Java and Java studies. The report also gives certain biographical data of these two scholars, mentions their academic career background and their role in further development of Java studies.