Cornelius Van Dyck (1818 - 1895)

Cornelius Van Alen Van Dyck, M.D. (August 13, 1818 – November 13, 1895) was an American missionary and translator of the Bible into Arabic.He was born at Kinderhook, NY, and educated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which he graduated as M.D. in 1839. In 1840 he was sent to Lebanon by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions as a medical missionary for the Dutch Reformed Church, and was stationed at Beirut, Abeih, Sidon, and Mount Tabor. He studied Arabic in Beirut under Butrus al-Bustani and Nasif al-Yaziji, both of whom later became famous Arab writers, and Yusuf al-Asir, with whom he would later collaborate in translating the Bible into Arabic. Van Dyck has long been respected by Arabs for his intimate knowledge of their history, culture, language, and proverbs, for his ability to work among Syrians without condescension, and especially for his contribution to the revival of Arabic literature in the nineteenth century.