Sierk Coolsma

Sierk Coolsma
Born	(1840-01-26)26 January 1840 Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Died	20 March 1926(1926-03-20) (aged 86) Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Occupation(s)	Missionary and writer
Years active	1869–1926
Spouse	Maria Johanna Gerretson ​ ​ (m. 1866; d. 1917)​
Parent(s)	Foppe Coolsma, Maaike Nauta
Family	Dora van der Meiden-Coolsma (granddaughter)

Sierk Coolsma (Dutch pronunciation: [sir(ə)ˈkoːlsmaː]; 26 January 1840 – 20 March 1926) was a Dutch Protestant missionary who wrote extensively on the Sundanese language. Born in the Netherlands, he became a missionary in his early twenties and arrived in the Dutch East Indies in 1865. First tasked to Cianjur, he studied Sundanese in more detail than his contemporaries, gaining an appreciation for the language. Further missionary activities in Bogor, begun in 1869, were a failure, and in 1873 he was tasked with translating the New Testament into Sundanese. Although the Sundanese people highly valued poetry, he did the translation in prose hoping that it would help readers entertain new ideas.

In 1876, Coolsma returned to the Netherlands and became the leader of the Netherlands Missionary Union, promoting further missionary activity in the predominantly Muslim western portion of the East Indies. He also wrote extensively on Sundanese, including a grammar and two dictionaries. Although his Bible translation had little lasting impact, these later works have remained in use.