The Encyclopaedia
Britannica defines a dictionary as “a book of listing words of a language,
with their meanings in the same or another language, usually in alphabetical order,
often with data regarding pronunciation origin and usage.” In this sense no
dictionary of the Assamese language, as of any other Modern Indian language,
was compiled before the advent of the English and other European peoples and
languages. The first Assamese dictionary
to have been printed and published is : A Dictionary in Assamese and English
(assamiya aru ingraji abhidhan) compiled by M. Bronson, an American
Baptist Missionary and published by the American Baptist Mission Press,
Sibsagor in 1867.
Bronson
acknowledges his debt to Reverend Nathan Brown “for a valuable list of words,
and definitions partly given all in the vernacular. Rev. whiting also printed a list of words as far
as the letter without definitions” : We have seen neither of these “lists” but
it is important to note that Bronson calls neither one a dictionary in his
“first dictionary of the language ever published “. We, however, have this information that
Jaduram Deka Baruva, whom Bronson terms “a learned Assamese Pundit” wrote the
first ever Assamese dictionary, and handed it over to a British official, who
showed it off to the American Baptists in Assam.
But the later history of the work remains unknown. It can perhaps be believed that Bronson was
familiar with Jaduram’s “dictionary”, which, however, he does not mention. What he mentions is very significant : “The
system of Orthography adopted in this work, is that Joduran Borua, a learned Assamese Pandit, which it is
believed much better corresponds with the actual pronunciation of the people
than any other system met with”, This is perhaps a reference to Jadhuram’s
lexicography.
Bronson’s
system of orthography in his dictionary was framed and dictated by the
Baptist’s monthly journal Orunodoi (1846), which wanted the written form
wrodfos strictly to “correspond with the actual pronunciation of the people“. The biggest advocate of this system
was Rev. Brown, who argued in its favour in the journal against the criticism
of Assamese writers like Hemachandra Barua and was supported by the Assamese
Christian, Nidhi Levi Farwell. In his
Grammatical Notices of the Assamese Language (1848) Brown upheld the same
principles. But long before the
publication of Bronson’s dictionary (1867) the Orunodoi gave up these
principles and adopted Hemachandra Barua’s as we see from the monthly’s 1861
volume; and when the third edition of Brown’s Grammatical Notices was brought
out by P.H. Moore (Nowgong, Assam, October 1892), it was thoroughly revised and
Brown’s own principles were superseded. Moore says in the Preface, “Certain changes have been made in the spelling, to
conform to current usage. The system of
spelling, which Dr. Brown said in favour of that system. As the letters
discarded by Dr. Brown are now required in the modern spelling, the complete Bengali Alphabet is given instead of an
abridged one”.
Brown dropped the long vowels (ī, ū) and their
symbols as unnatural in Assamese and avoided r-kara and p-kara altogether,
substituting for them. He retained only one------------------------------- for
the three sibilants, and of s he remarked “A very prominent characteristic of
this language is the pronunciation of the Sanskrit letter, and like the gutural
h or kh, corresponding with the Greek X; a sound unknown in Bengali.”
Bronson says
in his Preface, “In the fourteen thousand words here collected, will be found
many in daily use by the people, that no Bengali scholar will understand. Many of these words have been written as they
dropped from the lips of the people.
While I have thus endeavoured to give the spoken language, I have also
inserted the more common Sanskrit words that are used in the Puthis, and
therefore known to the people.These words are also used in our school
books, and scripture translation. But it
should be borns in mind that they are often used in Assamese with a modified
meaning, and a different pronunciation. “A few words are used with a slight
difference of form and pronunciation”;
The
following comments of Bronson will be found interesting : i, ī “ “These
two vowels are used indiscriminately to express the sound of i, in/pique;pin, pity. The
Assamese language knows no distinction between them except what is produced by accent, to which the Sanskrit and Bengali
distinction of long and short denoted by those two characters have no
reference. Hence for all practical
purposes the first character only need be retained:”
u,
ū “They indiscriminately used in Assamese to represent the sound of u
in rule or oo in poor. Hence the
first only need be retained r, r”,Ị, Ç : “These four compounds of r, l, and i, used in
the Sanskrit and Bengali, are seldom used in writing Assamese”
ch
: This letter is properly an aspirate of
hte preceding letter, s and as used in the Bangali and Sanskrit alphabets may
be represented by the English letter chh; but in Assamese both forms of the
letter are pronounced like simple s.
Therefore for all practical purposes the first form only need be
retained”
y
: “ In Assamese this letter is usually pronounced like the soft or .....................or
french j, and should therefore be written, but when written with a dot
underneath thus it becomes y
s, s,
ś : “The pronunciation of these
three letters being one and the same in Assamese, the latter character h, need
only be used. When combined with another
consonant it has the sound s, as
-------------------- hastra,
scripture; ------------hishyo disciple”
ks, “This
Sanskrit compound is composed of k, and sh, but it pronounced ‘ khy, an in Assamese
is often softened to kh, as in the word akhyor, a letter; Assamese akhor, or
aikhor. Hence this compound character is unnecessary in writing Assamese.”
The dictionary is based on these
principles. There are in it no words
beginning with long ī, ū, ¤ r̄̄ l
,Ç, ch, y, s â and ks. In medial positions the palatal t, th,d,h,
n are not uniformly used and sometime even in tatsama words their
place is taken by the dental series.
Bronson did not provide any note regarding the origin of the words.
Hemachandra
Barua, who was presented by Bronson personally with a copy of the dictionary,
was absolutely revolted by this system.
He expressed himself against Bronson’s work in the strongest terms. “Its orthography is absolutely wrong and as
even in the matter of meanings it does not come to the desirable, it is of an
will be of no use the learners of Assamese”.
Barua had already fought and won the battle against the Baptists, and
now set to make a new dictionary. The
result was Hemakosha or an Etymological Dictionary of the Assamese
language, which had Webster as its model and took help from Wilson’s
Sanskrit-English, Thompson’s Hindi and Urdu-English, and Carey’s
Bengali-English dictionaries. He set
once and for all the spelling and grammar of the Assamese language through this
dictionary, its abridged form, Parnasaliya Abhidhan (1828 Śaka/1906
A.D.), and his two grammars, the first of which was published through the
Baptists in 1781 Śaka/1859 A.D.
The
following words will show the standard obtaining in Bronson and Hemachandra :
| Bronson | Hemakosha |
| akathaniya, unspeakable, beyond expression | akathaniya |
| akarja bhagi, worthless | akajabhagi |
| akirti, without renown, infamous |
akīrtti, infamy |
| akripa, hardheartedness |
akrpā |
| agyan, ignorant | ajñān |
| acardha, disregard | aśraddhā |
| ajirna, indigestion | ajīrn*a |
| atripti, unsatisfied | atr,pti, instiableness |
| adrisya, invisible | adr,śya |
| adhauriya, impatience | adhairyya |
| anicai, uncertain | aniścay |
| antarikhya, the sky | antariks*a |
| aparhua, illiterate | apadhuwa |
| ica, desire | icchā |
| jakhar, saltpetre | ya’khar |
| sastriya, sriptural | śāstrīya |
Bronson adheres to the form actually obtaining with the
speaker, while very often Hemachandra neglects it and tries to make the words
conform to the original Sanskrit to the extent of utter is regard for the
medial stages of Middle Indo-Aryan through which the word has come. The Assamese language, therefore, did not
take the course the Baptist writers like Brown and Bronson wanted it to take,
and was soon reclaimed to Sanskrit standards even though not always on a sound
basis.
Parhasaliva Abhidhan was published ten years after his death, in
1906, and reprinted twice in 1912 and 1924 by his family. The Hemakosha was edited by Capt. P.R.T. Gurdon and Hemachandra Goswami and
published by the Assam Administration in 1900, as the author himself could not
dare risk his life’s savings during his life time. This dictionary has since set the pace for
the language. The work was later
“revised” and “edited” by less able hands, and has thus come to have a lesser
value. Hemachandra was not very
scientific in his etymological notes, while he did not exploit old Assamese
literature for sources of his words or their history. The number of words in this beautiful work is
22,346. Meanings were given in Assamese and English.
Encouraged by
an endowment made by Radhakanta Handiqui , Assam Sahitya Sabha set in September 1924 to make a
new dictionary and employed three person to collect words from current use and
old writings. The donor himself
contributed a number of words particularly as used in the buranjis or old
Assamese chronicles. The meanings of
words in Assamese and English were newly written. and fresh attempts were made to trace the
origin of the words. The result, Chandrakanta
Abhidhan, with 36,819 words, was published in 1933 with an Introduction by
Devananda Bharati, a pioneer linguist, and a Preface by the Sabha’s General
Secretary Deveswar Chaliha. Very soon a mass of criticism of the work
cropped up and at one time the Sabha contemplated the issue of a supplementary
with exhaustive corrigenda; but his was not done.
In the
meantime a scientific work on the language appeared in the form of Banikanta
Kakati’s Ph.D. thesis (Calcutta University),
Assamese : Its Formation and
Development, and revolutionized people’s idea about the history of the Assamese
language. After the death of Radhakanta
Hanidqui in 1952, his son, Professor Krishakanta Handiqui, the then
Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University made a magnificent donation to the
University for revison and publication
of the second edition of Chandrakanta Abhidhan (1962). The etymology and meanings of words were
revised in the light of Kakati’s work, and new words were added, the total
coming up to about 40,000. But some
confusion crept up in the course of preparation of the press copy and seeing
the work through the press and the result was not up to anybody’s
expectation. Work on the third edition
is now on, with Maheswar Neog as chief Editor and Upendranath Goswami as
Editor. This Abhidhan is an
all-purpose one, embracing Old and Modern Assamese, giving etymology of words,
and so on. The third edition is to
contain glossaries of scientific and technical terminology also.
Giridhar
Sarma’s Asamiya Abhidhan is a popular dictionary. There are other attempts also at
dictionary-making going on. The
Publication Board of Assam, for example, is compiling a dictionary of Modern
Assamese in a handy form without etymology and meanings in English.
The main problem
in dictionary-making in Assamese is the want of man-power and equipment
required as well as of material resources. The Lexicographer here
is yet to supersede samuel Johnson’s definition of him as “a harmless
drudge”. The work of a dictionary is the work of a team of workers which
is not to be found easily in Assam . Chandrakanta Abhidhan, the largest dictionary in Assamese, still
excludes a large number of words in current speech and literature, while
words are being constantly added to the language. There is scarcely any
possibility of coping with this work, in the prevailing circumstances.
Top
Requirements and Priorities of Assamese Lexicography
G.C. Goswami
The following in a brief survey of dictionaries,their requirements and priorities in Assamese.
(i) Existing dictionaries
a) Assamese-Assamese Dictionary, compiled by Rev. Bronson and published in 1867. This is the first Assamese dictionary published by a missionary more than one hundred years ago. This dictionary contains a very good collection of Assamese tadbhav words of everyday use. It is not available now and is rare work.
b) Hema Kosa compiled by Hemachandra Barua and published in 1900 A.D. This is the second Assamese English dictionary. Since its first publication, it has undergone four editions.
c) Chandrakanta Abhidhana is another very good Assamese-Assamese-English dictionary compiled and published by the Asom Sahitya Sabha in 1932. Its second revised/edition was published by the Gauhati University in 1962. The third revised edition being brought out by the Asom Sahitya Sabha is now in press. This may be regarded as the only reliable and authoritative, though not exhaustive, dictionary of the language published so far.
d) Anglo-Assamese Pronouncing Dictionary by B.N. Bhattacharya is a good and reliable English-Assamese dictionary.’ However, it cannot be regarded as comprehensive.
e) Anglo-Assamese Dictionary by G.D. Sharma is
a handy dictionary primarily intended for students and has undergone several editions. Besides these, there are a few pocket Anglo-Assamese dictionaries available in the market.
(ii) Dictionaries under preparation :
The
Assam Publication Board and the Dutta Barua and Co., have been compiling two
Assamese and Assamese to English dictionaries separately which are expected to
be good in quality.
(iii) Needs of various types of dictionaries etc : Priorities for Assamese :
From the above it is quite evident that
Assamese lacks in all these dictionaries : scientific and technical,
commercial, scholarly and comprehensive, etc.
a) The first an foremost need is a comprehensive dictionary of the Assamese spoken in every
nook and corner of the Assamese speaking area.
Such a dictionary of any Indian language should strive to be as
comprehensive and exhaustive as possible in two respects : (i) synchronically,
it should record all words and forms spoken and available at the present time
and also used in the present day literature; the words being recorded in all
their dialectical variants; and (ii) historically, it should contain all words
and form available in the recorded literature of the early periods of the language.
Many of the words and forms in different dialect areas are now fast dying
out in Assamese (probably this is the case in many other Indian languages)
either yielding place to borrowed words from other languages or those
of the standard dialect. All efforts should be made to collect and preserve
them before they are completely lost. This is necessary not only for the
Assamese language but also for the historical and comparative study and
for reconstruction of the history of the Indo-Aryan languages of India. Besides, Assamese has been exposed,
perhaps to a greater extent than other languages, to the influences of
many non-Aryan languages belonging to different language families. And
therefore, proper evaluation of these languages and dialects will be possible
only with comprehensive dictionaries done properly on all the languages
of the country. And I am sure the CILL will do a signal service if it
can, in anyway, assist in compiling such dictionaries at least in the
major languages.
I produced a scheme for such a comprehensive dictionary of the Assamese language some years ago but it still remains in the file for want of sponsoring authorities.
b) Another urgent need in Assamese
is a multilingual Assamese dictionary, - multilingual not with outside
or foreign languages but with languages spoken by the major tribal linguistic
groups such as Bodo-Kachari, Gaor, Khasi, Lushai, etc. There may be one or more than one such multilingual
dictionaries with Assamese as the common language.There are very few dictionaries in the
tribal languages; and there is no multilingual dictionary at all at present.
Linguistic consciousness is growing among the tribal people and preparation
and publication of such multilingual dictionaries will certainly go a
long way in achieving emotional integration in this most sensitive border
state of the country.
c) Medical and other scientific and technical dictionaries are of primary necessity in every major regional language of the country for smooth and easy change over of the medium of instruction to the regional languages. There is no such dictionary of any subject in Assamese at present.
d) Like other regional languages, technical terminologies are being prepared in Assamese also, Sanskrit has been accepted as the reservoir to draw upon words and forms in coining new terms. Therefore a good Sanskrit to Assamese dictionary is also necessary and as I understand the Gauhati University Coordination Committee for Text-book Production is engaged in the compilation of such a dictionary.
(iv) A general priority :
At this head I want to say something about the necessity of a comprehensive comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages. The need for such a dictionary of the Dravidian languages/should also be examined (Emeneau’s dictionary will serve as the basis for this)
R.L. Turner’s recently completed Comparative
Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages is, and will always remain, a
monumental work done by a single hand. A comparative dictionary like this demands
superhuman efforts and a very long life from a single individual and
fortunately for us the industrious and learned compiler had been endowed with
both these gifts by God. We Indians are
deeply indebted to the author for this and other lasting contributions in the
field or Indo-Aryan languages and linguistics.
Now that we have got a very good work in
hand we may take this dictionary as the basis and try to make it as comprehensive
and exhaustive as possible. I feel the necessity of supplementing
it because of the fact that although quite a large number of Assamese
cognates have been cited in the dictionary a sizeable amount of words
have also been shown without Assamese cognates are lacking for these words,
but my preliminary observation shows that most of the head words shown
without Assamese cognates really have such cognates. I don’t know if it
is true in the case of the other languages, but probably it may be.
I feel that the urgency and priority of supplementing
and making Turner’s dictionary as exhaustive as possible for all the Indo-Aryan
languages for comparative and historical linguistics in Indo-Aryan can
never be overemphasized. The work may be taken up, perhaps, after
preparation of comprehensive dictionaries in the languages in which such
dictionaries are at present lacking.
(v) Availability of man-power etc :
In Assam there will be a great dearth of technically
qualified persons for compilation of dictionaries. However, there are quite a few college and university
teachers who have received some training in linguistics in various schools
and seminars. There are at least four teachers who received their
doctorate degrees in linguistics and philology. Services of these persons
as also of those of the M.A.s in Assamese B group may be utilized for
the purpose.
(vi) For purpose of increasing qualified man power potential :
a) A training programme of three to four months may be organized at a suitable place.
b) Arrangement may also be made to conduct some courses on lexicography in the schools of
linguistics.
Top
Top
A Brief Survey of
Dictionary –Making in Gujarat
A.S. Nagar
कोशस्यैव महीपाना कोशत्य विदुषामपि
उपयोगो महान् यस्मात् क्लेशस्तेन विना भवेत्
It has been correctly said that what
the exchequer is to a king, a lexicon is to the scholar. When any dialect develops into a language it becomes
necessary to prepare on the one hand a grammar of the language and on the other
a dictionary in order to standardize its form and structure.
The
eleventh century A.D. marks the evolution of the Gujarati language from Prakrit
and Apabhramsha. This language was
spoken over a large tract of western Rajasthan and the former Bombay
Presidency, a region now known as Gujarati was the language originally used by
the greater portion of the native mercantile community in particular.
Dictionary-making
in this region started under the patronage of Gujarat
kings Jaysimha and Kumarpala. Under
their kind patronage the famous Jain scholar Hemacandracaraya (1088-1175 A.D.)
compiled the following four lexicons :
1. Abhidhanā Chintāmani
2. Anekārtha Samgraha
3. Nighantuśesa
4. Deśīnāmmālā
These are the earliest lexicons
available in Gujarati. After that we come across ‘Auktiks viz, Balshikha Auktik
(1336 A.D.) and Mugdhavabodh Auktik (1450 A.D.) These works are combinations of
grammar and lexicon and the two Auktiks mentioned above are the earliest
specimens of their type in Gujarat.
Modern dictionary making
in Gujarat standard in the beginning of 19th
century under the influence of English, Marathi and Bengali Dictionaries.
The earlier Gujarati lexicographers were interested in bi-lingual rather
than uni-lingual dictionaries for two reasons. First, as Mirza Cauzim
explains in the Preface to Gujarati-English Dictionary published in 1846
A.D., Gujarati was the “grand commercial language of Western and Central
India” and therefore it was necessary to facilitate its study
by outsiders. Secondly, as the Gujaratis themselves had mercantile contacts
with other parts of the country and the world, it was considered useful
to give assistance to native speakers who wished to acquaint themselves
with English or other Indian languages such as Urdu, Hindi and Marathi
etc. These objectives could be attained through the use of bilingual lexicons.
It would not be possible be survey
all dictionaries in this brief paper. I have come across more than 46
dictionaries which are available. A list of them is attached herewith in the appendix.
I would therefore like to devote myself to a classification and evaluation
of some of the standard works available in this area.
The available lexicons can be classified as under :
1. Bilingual dictionaries
2. Monolingual dictionaries
3. Multilingual dictionaries
Bilingual Dictionaries
It appears
quite strange that monolingual dictionaries came into existence much later.
First of all lexicographers devoted themselves to the making of bilingual
dictionaries. The first attempt in this direction was made
by Drummond in his ‘Glossary’ 160 years ago. The glossary consists of
only 463 Gujarati words and their English equivalents. Since then nearly
two dozen Gujarati-English and English-Gujarati Dictionaries have been
made upto this time. The Modern gujarati-English Dictionary prepared by
Bhanusukhram of Baroda and his son Bharatram in 1925 consisted of above
51,595 words. Some other attempts have also been made in this direction
recently but no standard, authentic and up-to-date English-Gujarat or
Gujarati-English Dictionary is available at present.
Besides
Gujarati-English dictionaries, there have been attempts to prepare bilingual lexicons
giving the meanings in Gujarat of Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu and Hindi words. These attempts, however, are of a preliminary
nature, and much remains to be done in this field.
Monolingual Dictionaries
The
attempts of Gujarati lexicographers in the area of monolingual dictionaries are quite
satisfactory. The first Gujarat to Gujarati Dictionary is called “Narmakosh” (1873) compiled by the famous poet
Narmadashankar Lalshanker of Surat,
which contains 25,268 words. The next
significant Gujarati lexicon to be produced was “Sartha Gujarati Jodnikosh”
compiled under the patronage of Mahatma Gandhi and published by Gujarat
Vidyapith (1929). The latest edition of
this work contains 75,000 words. This is
standard and popular dictionary of the Gujarati language.
The next
milestone in Gujarati Lexicography is ‘Bhagwad Gomandal’ (1955). This s a unique lexicon which can be called
an encyclopedic dictionary of the Gujarati language and it represents
the high-mark of achievement in Gujarati language and it represents the
high-mark of achievement in Gujarati lexicography. This work done under
the kind and generous patronage of H.H. Sir Bhagvat Singhji of Gondal
(Saurashtra). This is a dictionary of about 2,00,000 words in/nine big
volumes. This lexicon does not merely contain a large
number of classical and Deshya words with their etymology and meaning,
it also contains many forgotten historical facts and other data definite
value to the cause of knowledge.
Multilingual Lexicons
Multilingual Lexicons are a necessity in modern
times. Attempts are being made now in
this direction. But there is a rare and
unparalled lexicon already available in Gujarat.
It was
half a century ago when H.H. Sir Sayaji Rao Gaikwad launched a project to
prepare a Multilingual lexicon utilizing eight language viz. English, Gujarati,
Marathi, Sanskrit, Urdu, Persian, Hindi and Bengali. This is a popular vernacular legal lexicon
named ‘Shri Sayaji Shashan Kalpataru’ (1931).
This is a
unique work of its type. While undertaking
this project Sri Sayaji Rao expressed his aim and object in these words : ‘It
is the idea of Indians to have one common language for India
and this is an humble effort towards that the fruit of this work will be
relished in future’.
In my opinion,
Gujarati lexicographers have already achieved much room for further work
in this field. The position, however, is different with regard to bilingual
and multilingual lexicons. The crying need in our country is unity and
integration. For this purpose we should encourage the study
of as many languages as possible. Bilingual and multi-lingual dictionaries
can play a very, important role in this respect. In Gujarat there is the imperative need for the compilation of up-to-date Gujarati-English
English-Gujarati, Gujarati-Hindi and Hindi-Gujarati dictionaries.The production of such lexicons will contribute
not only to the modernization of knowledge in various fields but also
to the welding together of different language communities into an emotionally
integrated unit.
APPENDIX
List of Important Dictionaries Produced in Gujarat.
|
Name
|
Details of
Publication
|
Author
|
|
1. Glossary
(Gujarati-English)
|
1813 A.D.
|
Drummond
|
|
2. Idiomatic Exercises
Illustrative of the phraseology and Structure of English and Gujarati
languages
|
1841 A.D. ( Bombay )
|
Dosabhai
|
|
3. Gujarati-English
Dictionary
|
1846 A.D.
|
Mirza Mohammad cauzim
and Navroji Farmji
|
|
4. Glossary
|
1855 A.D. ( London )
|
H.H. Wilson
|
|
5. English-Gujarati
Dictionary (8 vols.)
|
1857 A.D.
|
Ardeshar Farmjimus
NanabhaiRustamji R
|
|
6. Gujarati-English
Dictionary
|
1862 A.D.
|
Karsandas Mulji
|
|
7. Gujarati-English
Dictionary
|
----
|
Shapurnji Adelji
|
|
8. Koshavali (13 vols.)
|
1865 A.D.
|
Hirachand Kanji
|
|
9. Shabd na mool
|
1868 A.D. (Ahmedabad)
|
Sayed Abdulla and
Khimji Mulji
|
|
10. Sanskrit Tatha
Gujarati Kosh
|
1871 A.D. ( Bombay )
|
Babarao Tatya raoji
Ranjit & Shastri Shankerlal Maheswar
|
|
11. Pahelvi, Gujarati
and English Shabd Kosh
|
1877 A.D. ( Bombay )
|
Jamsedji Dastur
Meenachaherji
|
|
12. Gujarati Shabd
Mool Darshan kosh
|
1879 A.D. (Bhuj)
|
Chhotalal sevakram
|
|
13. Apabhramsh Shabd
Praksh
|
1880 a.d.
( Baroda )
|
Prabhakar Ramachaddra
Pandit
|
|
14 Vyutpati Prakash
|
1881 A.D. ( Bombay )
|
Mahipatram
|
|
15 Narmkosh
|
1861-1873 A.D. ( Rajkot )
|
Kalidas &
Balkrishnadas Brijbhandas
|
|
16. Gujarati-English
Dictionary
|
1885 A.D.
( Rajkot )
|
Kalidas &
Balkrishnadas Brijbhandas
|
|
17. Gujarati Shabdarth
Kosh
|
1886 A.d. (Sanand)
|
|
|
18. Gujarati Shabd
Kosh
|
--
|
Lallubhai Goalbhai
Patel
|
|
19. Gujarati English
Kosh
|
|
Ukardabhai shivji
Nensi
|
|
20. Gujarati-Gujarati and –English Dictionary
|
1874 A.D.( Bombay )
|
Shivshanker
|
|
21. English-Gujarati
Dictionary
|
1877 A.D.
|
Robert Montgomery
& Ambalal Sakarlal Desai
|
|
22. Maha Kosh
|
1891 A.D.
( Baroda )
|
Tribhuvannath
Kalyandas Gajjar
|
|
23. Shabdarth Bhed
|
1891 A.D.
(Dholka)
|
--
|
|
24. Standard
English-Gujarati Dictionary
|
1894 A.D.
|
Vyas & Patel
|
|
25. Gujarati-English
Kosh
|
1895 A.D.
|
Malhar Bhikhaji
Belsar
|
|
26 Laghu kosh
Sabharath Sindhu
|
1895 a.D. ( Bombay )
|
H.G. Merchant
|
|
27. English-Gujarati
Dictionary
|
1899 a.D.
|
Bhagubhai
|
|
28. Prantik Shabd
Sangrah
|
1900 A.D. (Visnagar)
|
Govindbhai Hathibhai
Desai
|
|
29. Sabda Chintamani
|
1900 A.D. ( Baroda )
|
---
|
|
30. Urdu mishra
Gujarati kosh
|
1912 A.D. ( Baroda )
|
Syed Nizmuddin
Nooruddin Husaini
|
|
31
Gujarati-Parsi-Arbi Shabdo no kosh
|
1926 A.D.
|
Amirminyan Hamduminya
Faruki
|
|
32 Shabdartha
|
1929-30 A.D.
|
Girjashanker
Mayashanker Mehta
|
|
33. Sartha Gujarati
Jodni kosh
|
1929 A.D.
|
Gujarat
Vidyapith Ahmedabad
|
|
34. Shabda Ratna
Mahodadhi
|
1937 A.D
|
Munishri Muktivijayji
|
|
35. Ardhmagadhi kosh
(5 parts)
|
1929-38 A.D ( Bombay
& Indore )
|
Muni Ratna-chandraji
|
|
36. English-Gujarati
Dictionary
|
1906 A.D.
|
B.C. Desai
|
|
37. English-Gujarati
Dictionary
|
1892A.D.
|
Lallubhai Gokulbhai
Patel
|
|
38. Gujarathi Shabd
kosh
|
1912-23 A.D.
|
Gujarat
Varnacular Society
|
|
39. Hindi-Gujarati
kosh
|
1924 A.D. ( Baroda )
|
Ganesh Dutta Sharma
|
|
40 Gujarati
Shabdhartha Chintamini
|
1925 A.D.
|
Jivanlal Amarshi
Mehta
|
|
41 Shri Sayaji
Shashan Sabdet Kalpataru
|
1931
|
Baroda
State
|
|
42. Gujarati-English
Dictionary
|
1925 A.D.
|
Bhanusukhram Bharatrm
Mehta
|
|
43. Bhagvad Gomandal
(9 vols.)
|
1944-1955
|
H.H. Bhagvadsinhji
(Gondal)
|
|
44. Hindi-Gujarati
Shabd kosh
|
1939 A.D.
|
Gujarat
Vidyapith Ahmedabad
|
|
45. Gujarati-Hindi Shabdkosh
|
1961 A.D.
|
Gujarat
Vidyapith Ahmedabad
|
|
46. Laghukosh
|
--
|
K.K. Shastri
|
|
47. English-Gujarati
Dictionary
|
1969
|
Deshpandey, Sardar
Patel Uni.
|
Top
Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries in
Gujarat
Keshavram k.
Shastree
Gujarat’s
contribution in the field of lexicology is very ancient,. Durgacarya, a well known author of a
commentary on Yaska’s Nirukta was a resident of Jambusar in Broach district
before 10th Century A.D. Dr. Laxman Sarup, in the preface of his
Nirukta edition places him in 14th century and consider him a
resident of Jammu (Kashmir). Lexicons were prepared in Gujarat somewhat
later by Acarya Hemachandra, the famous Jain monk of Gujarat and a court
preceptor of Siddharaja Jayasimha and his successor Kumarapala, the rulers of
Gujarat in the later part of the 11th century A. D. and the first
half of the 12th century A. D. respectively. He gave us four
lexicons : 1. Abhidhāna-cintāmani, 2. Anekārtha-samgraha, 3.
Nigha¸¶u-kośa, and 4. Deśī
nāma-mālā. First three are Sanskrit lexicons, while
the last is perhaps the first bilingual lexicon so far known. The lexicon is in
verse. All the words included in the lexicon are local Prakrit words, used in
Prakrit literature all over India ,
which he thought to be non-Sanskritic. The commentary and meanings are given in
Sanskrit.
Gujarat
is also fortunate to possess elementary Sanskrit grammars composed in local
languages. Bālā-Śiksā of Thakkura Samgrā-msimha
composed in 1280 A. D. is the first work of that kind so for known. At the end
a list of some notable words of the then spoken language, call it pre-Gujarati
or pre-Rajasthani are also given. Auktikas are a kind of grammars usually
prepared to enable the beginners to learn Sanskrit. At present several
manuscripts of such Auktikas are available in manuscripts libraries of Gujarat
and Rajasthan. Mugdhavabodha Auktika of Kulamandana Gani, composed in 1394 A.
D., also possesses a list of some peculiar words with Sanskrit equivalents in the
appendix. This was discovered by Sri Hari Parshad Dhruv of Ahmedabad. Its
discovery was reported in the London Congress of Orientalists in 1892 A. D. and
was printed afterwards. Ukti Ratnākara of Sādhusundara Gani was
another work of the same kind written at the time of Emperor Akbar.
Phārasī-Sanskrit lexicons are available.
East
India Company of England brought several parts of India under their control in
the second half of the 18th century A. D. and continued to annex
other parts till 1857 A. D. Rulers needed to be familiar with local languages
as well as with Mughal Rulers’ language i.e., Persian. An English-Persian
Vocabulary was prepared for the Calcutta
College in 1800 A. D. It was
translated in several Indian languages. A Gujarat
translation under the title of ‘Vocabulary, English & Gujarati’ was
published by the proprietors of the Bombay Samachar, a Bombay
daily in 1835 A. D. Within 10 to 15 years four editions of the work were
brought out each time thoroughly revised and corrected.
But the
real honour of publishing the first Gujarati-English Dictionary goes to Father
Drummond earlier in 1808 A. D. who in the first part of the work gave a short
grammar. First part of the book gave a short grammar, first so far known, of
the Gujarati language, with equivalents in Marathi and English. The title of
the work is GLOSSARY and it contains 463 Gujarati words with full explanations
in English. At present he is considered as the first lexicographer of bilingual
dictionaries of Gujarati.
Two
other works are also noteworthy here. They are not vocabularies or glossaries.
One is ‘Idiomatic Exercises, Illustrative of the Phraseology and Structure of
English and Goojerattee Language’ by Sorabhshaw Dossabhoy, a Parsi Gentleman,
published in the year 1841 A. D. in Bombay, while the other one is a
‘Collection of English Phrases’ translated in Gujarati from the same work of H.
Green of Bombay. It was published from Bombay
in 1851 A. D.
The
first work possessing the title ‘Dictionary’ is a ‘Dictionary of Goojerattee
and English’ by Mirza Mahomed Cauzim of Cambay (a part in Gujarat).
The work was corrected and revised by Nowrozjee Furdoonjee-general native
interpreter to the Supreme Court, and published from Bombay
in 1846 A. D. The compiler was cautious at several places to note Marathi,
Hindustani, Zend, Turkish, Portugese, French, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic and Persian
equivalents and roots also. The relation with Sanskrit was noted particularly.
It must be said that the compiler was the first scholar, so far known, who
paved the road in the field of Etymology of Gujarati words. The spellings of
Arabic and Persian roots were given in Persian script. The dictionary contains
420 pages of 11.5“+9” with nearly 15,000 words.
English
Gujarati Dictionary by E. P. Robertson was published in 1854 A. D. from Bombay .
It contains 330 pages of 9“+6” size.
Here
it is worth nothing that ‘A Glossary of the Administrative words’ in several
Indian languages, compiled by H. Wilson, was published in 1855 A. D. from London,
in which several Gujarati synonoyms were also noted.
Nanabhai
Rustamji Ramina of Bombay compiled
a Dictionary of English and Gujarati, which was corrected and enlarged by
Ardesar Framji. The first part of this dictionary was published in 1857 A. D.
This was the biggest dictionary, so far published, containing nearly 50,000
words, in eight parts. Meanwhile an abridged edition of the same was prepared
by Mors and Ramina with the help of the famous poet Kavi Narmada Shankar
Lalshankar of Surat, possessing 20,000 words, and was published in 1862 A. D.
In
the same year i.e., in 1862 A. D. a Gujarati English Dictionary compiled by
Karsondas Mulji was published containing nearly 10,000 words. Next year a small
English and Gujarati Dictionary of only 67 pages was published from Bombay .
In this work Gujarati pronunciations were also noted. In the same year, in
December, a Dictionary “Gujarati and English”, with 27,000 words, giving
English equivalents as well as explanation in Gujarati, was published which was
compiled by a Parsi gentlemen named Shapurji Edalji. The noteworthy feature of
the work was its introduction, where origin and character of the Gujarathi
language were treated.
Next
year a booklet of only 32 page, of 5.5 “+4” by the Christian Education Society
was published from Bombay with the
title ‘English and Gujarati Vocabulary’. The arrangement was such that there
were two pages with sentences and two/pages with vocabulary.
Kosavate-a
collection of thirteen lists of words was compiled and published by Kavi
Hirachand Kanji from Bombay Union Press in 1865 A. D. In 195 pages of 4.5 “+8”,
the compiler gave lists of words alphabetically to help poets in getting words
matching for ending Anuprasas.
Here a
mention should be made of two different kinds of attempts in 1865 A. D. in
which Haridas Hirachand complied a dhātu manarji and S. Taylor
with the help of Vrajlal Kalidas Shastri of Ahmedabad, produced a
dhātu-Kośa. In both cases Sanskrit verbal roots are given with their
Gujarati derivatives and equivalents.
Sayed Abdullah and Khimji Premji prepared an
Etymological Dictionary under the title of ‘Sabda-na Mula’ of 2,500 Arabic
Phrases and Hindustani words selected from the Gujarati Reading Series-1st
to 7th standards of Primary schools, prepared under the supervision
of Mr. Hope, and published it in 1968 and 1870 A. D. separately.
Dolatram
Maniram and Revashankar Ambaram Bhatt-both of Ahmedabad, compiled a ‘Sabdartha
Kosa’ each for the Hope Reading Series which were published in 1868 and 1870 A.
D. separately.
Sanskrit
and Gujarati Dictionary by Baji Rao Tatya Raoji Ranjit, duly corrected by
Kavishwar Sankarlal Maheshwar was the śecond bilingual Sanskrit-Gujarati
Dictionary, so far known upto 1871 A. D. It was a small one of the Royal Octavo
175 pages only and contained 12,000 words. Here it is worth noting that
Ranchhod Udayam-a noteworthy author of several Gujarati dramas and the
prosodical work Rana-Pingala, and a translator of repute, with the help of the
then famous linguist Vrajlal Kalidas Shastri prepared a full vocabulary of
notable words from Sanskrit Hitopadesa, compiled alphabetically with Gujarati
meanings and published it in 1864 A. D.
Independently
Kavi Narmadashankar Lalshankar of Surat
began to collect and compile a masterly dictionary of the Gujarati language
: Narma-Kosa. Its publication was started in 1861 A. d. and completed
in 1873 A. D. It contains about 25,000 words in all. This was a scholastic
effort and in this monumental work of repute, he gave an exhaustive history
of the Gujarati literature in the Introduction for the first time. Meanwhile
his Narma-Katha-Kosa-Dictionary of the proper names from Ramayana-Bharata-Bhagavata
was published in 1870 A. D. Shah Ukardabhai Shivaji Nenshi brought out
a Gujarati-English Dictionary in 1874 A. D.
Two
village school-teachers-Patel Jeshang Trikamdas and Patel Tribhoven Gangadas
began to collect words which were not found in Narma-Kosa. Such items were
approximately 1200 and were published under the title ‘Gujarati Sabda-samgraha-Pt-I’
in 1876 A. D. from Ahmedabad.
Here
a Pahelvi-Gujarati dictionary under the title of ‘Gujarati Sabda, Mula-darsak
Kosa’ was compiled by Chhotalal Sevakram of Kutch and
was published in 1879 A. D. with 1721 original Sanskrit words with their derived
Gujarati words.
A
third Sanskrit-Gujarati dictionary under the title of ‘Gujarati Sabda,
Mula-darsak Kosa’ was compiled by Chhotalal Sevakram of Kutch
and was published in 1879 A. D. with 1721 original Sanskrit words with their
derived Gujarati words.
Next
year, i.e. in 1880 A. D. Prabhakar Ramchandra Pandit of Vernacular Science
College of Baroda published from Bombay ,
an Etymological Dictionary namely ‘Apabhrasta-Sabda-prakasa’. It is worth
noting that Mahipatram Rupram Nilkanth, a renowned scholar of that time, took
sufficient advantage from all the etymological dictionaries, then published, in
preparing his ‘Vyutprakasa’, in 1881 A. D.
Here
an English-Gujarati Dictionary prepared by Montgomery
with the assistance of Ambalal Sakarlal Desai and Manidhvrprasad, published in
1877 A. D. is worth noting. It was an authenatic and well conceived effort and
gave appropriate Gujarati synonyms. The work underwent four editions, the
fourth being in 1910 A. D.
In
1885 A. D. ‘A Dictionary : Gujarati and Gujarati-English’ compiled by Cassidass
Brij-bhukandas and his brother Balkrisnadas Vakil of Rajkot, was brought out
with 1132 pages-Royal octavo size’ Authors noted that they had taken full
advantage of the previous works of repute of Narmadashankar, Montgomery, Cauzim
and Sapurji Edalji. The dictionary included some Saurashtrian words also.
Motilal
Mansukram Shah of Visalpur near Sanand (Dist. Ahmedabad) brought out a Gujarati
Sabdartha Kosa in 1886 A. D. as the supplement of Narma-Kosa with new 1400
words not found in the same.
Vithualdas
Govardhandas Vyas and Shah Kerbhai Govardhandas Vyas and Shah Kerbhai Galabhai
Patel published their standard English-Gujarati Dictionary in two parts in 1894
A. D. with illustrations where found necessary. It was a standard dictionary of
Super Royal Octavo 1688 pages in small piece types.
Gujarati
Sabdartha-Samgraha under the main title of ‘Sabdartha sindhu’ by Vitthal
Rajaram Dalal came out in 1895 A. D. In the same year Malhar Bhikaji Belsare’s
Etymological Gujarati-English Dictionary was published by H. K. Pathak from
Ahmedabad. A Sanskrit Gujarati Laghu Kosa-Sabdartha-sindhu was brought out by
one Hargovind G. Merchant from Bombay
in that very year.
A
‘Rudhi-prayoga Kosa’ (Gujarati Idioms) was prepared by Bhogilal Bhikhabhai
Gandhi and was published by Gujarat Vernacular Society (now called Gujarat
Vidya Sabha) of Ahmedabad in 1898. In that very year i. e. in 1898 A. D. Bhagu
F. Karbhari of Ahmedabad brought out ‘Students’ Gujarati English Dictionary’
and ‘Students’ English Gujarati Dictionary ‘ in two volumes : first one of Demy
Octavo 644 pages and other one of 800 pages. The author was particular in
giving idiomatic usages. It is notable that the foreward was written by Sir
Ramanbhai Nilkanth, a scholar of repute.
The
Gujarat Vernacular Society, established in 1848 (at present known as Gujarat
Vidya Sabha) at Ahmedabad launched a scheme to prepare an authentic Gujarati
dictionary. A list of Gujarati words prepared by Mr. Hope for his Gujarati
reading Series in earlier days was in society’s possession. Accordingly the
Society made the list exhaustive and published the same in four parts in 1898
A. D. The next year is noteworthy for the publication of an etymological
dictionary of sorts with the title ‘Suddh-Sabda-pradarsana’ meaning the
correctness of words used in Gujarati with vocalic changes from Sanskrit,
Persian, Arabic, English, Portugeese etc. Undertaken by one Jayakrishnadas
Gangadas Bhakta of Surat Mission
High School and sponsored by his
two publisher friends-Bhakta and kin-khabwala from Ahmedabad. The scientific
approach was worth noting.
In
the field of Sanskrit-Gujarati Dictionaries, a monumental work-undertaken by
one Savailal Chhotalal Vora of Bhavnagar under the title of
‘Sabdartha-cintamani’ was published by one Dolatram Maganlal Shah from Baroda
in the last year of the 19th century A. D. It has 1408 pages of
Super Royal Octavo size. Notable thing about this dictionary are the quotations
from old classical Sanskrit words. It is also to be noted that no such other
attempt has been made in the last seven decades. The number of Sanskrit words
treated was 17,000.
One Lallubhai Gokaldas Patel of Nadiad, who
already published a pocket Gujarati-English Dictionary and Star English
Gujarati Dictionary, undertook the preparation of a gujarati-Gujarati
Dictionary and published it in 1909 A. D. in Royal Octavo 1054 pages in small
piece types, supplying quotations from classical Gujarati works for the first
time.
After
two years one Dharmachandra Kevalchand brought out a translation of Sanskrit
amara-kosa, supplying proper Gujarati equivalents.
In
the year 1912 A. D. Sayed Nizamuddin Nuruddin Huseyuni of Baroda
brought out Urdu misra Gujarati Kosa-Vowels only. It contained etymological
information like usages, pronunciations, root-words, meanings and derivational
hints.
Gujarat
vernacular Society of Ahmedabad entrusted the work of preparing an authentic
exhaustive Gujarati Dictionary to Manilal Chhabaram Bhatt of Ahmedabad which
was to give usages, derivations, proper meanings and idioms. The publication
started from 1912 A. D. in fascicules and was completed in 1923 A. D.
Here
a special mention should be made of Munishri Ratnachandraji-a Jain Monk-who
prepared an Ardhamagadhi-Gujarati Sabda-Kosa in four volumes. They were brought
out from 1919 A. d. to 1930 A. D.
It
is also worth mentioning that a Gujarati Hindi Dictionary by Ganeshdatt Sharma
Gaud was published in 1924 A. D. by Messrs. Jaydev Brothers from Baroda .
It contained 27,000 words in Demy Octavo 1052 pages.
Next
year Salopayogi Gujarati-Gujarati Sabdakosa was brought out by Lallubhai G.
Patel in Royal Octavo 863 pages. In the same year Gujarati English Dictionary by
Bhanusukhram Nirgunram Mehta and his son Bharatram came out in two big volumes
containing nearly 51,000 words. The same year is also notable for the
publication of Gujarati-Gujarati Dictionary under the title of
‘Sabdarthacintamani’, mostly based upon the Gujarati Kosa of Gujarat Vernacular
Society, from Ahmedabad.
In
1926 A. D. the ‘Students English and Gujarati Dictionary’ (pronouncing and
etymological), translated form Marathi by one Janmashamkar Tulsidas Mankodi,
was brought out by the Chitrashala Steam Press of Poona. In the same year
‘Gujarati Farsi Arabi Sabda Kosa’ by Amironia Hamduma Faruki was published by
Gujarat Vernacular Society of Ahmedabad.
Years
1929 and 1930 A. D. saw the publication of a Sanakrit Gujarati Sabadarsa-a
dictionary in two volumes by Girijashankar Mayaram Nehta of Ahmedabad. It is a
noteworthy attempt form a Sanskritist.
It
is well known that even in the third decade of 20th century A. D.
the spelling system of Gujarati words was not standardized from the time of
publication of Hope Gujarati Reading series the attempts were afoot to frame
rules, but with no success. After the establishment of Gujarat Vidyapith in
Ahmedabad in the beginning of the third decade, it was decided that rules
regarding consistency in spellings should be framed. Thus Gujarat Vidyapith
first published a list of words, under the title ‘Jodani-Kosa’, spelt according
to the framed ruled in 1929 A. D. Within two years it published the same
supplying meanings in Gujarati. 4th edition came out in 1949 adding
derivations. We have received its 5th edition just two years back.
Now the Gujarati spelling system is fully standardized.
In
1932 A. D. a Sanskrit Gujarati Laghu Kosa by Ganesh Sadashiv Talvalkar was
published by Daksinamurti Prakasana Mandir of Bhavnagr (Saurashtra) and in the
year 1939 A. D. a Hindi-gujarati Kosa by Maganbhai P. Desai was brought out by
Gujarat Vidyapith of Ahmedabad.
Harikrishna
Vyas of Lalthi (Saurashtra), inventor of Gujarati Shorthand-system, brought out
two works : complete Basic Sabda Kosa-English Gujarati and 2,000 English words
common in Gujarat, both in 1939 A. D.
Most noteworthy was the grand attempt of the Late Maharaja Bhagavatsinghji
of Gondal (Saurashtra), who patronized the preparation of the biggest
and most exhaustive Gujarati-Gujarati Dictionary. The work started in
the year 1928. The first volume was published in 1944, while the last
one in 1955, containing in all 9270 pages of double royal octavo, having
nearly 2,81,377 words, 5,40,455 meanings, and 28,156 idioms. Quotations
of the usages from classical Gujarati works were given at their proper
places, and no attempt was spared to give all sorts of derivations. It
must be admitted that this big work lacks scientific approach. Still it
should frankly be accepted that it has supplied raw material for a future
dictionary of higher merit.
The
latest production is an English-Gujarati Dictionary compiled by Pandurang
Ganesh Deshpanee, published by the Sardar
Patel University,
Vallabhvidyanagar (Dist. Khera, Gujarat).
Here
I must mention some minor attempts also. They are : sabdarthmala of Harishankar
D. Trivedi (Sadra-1937) a dictionary in
verse following the style of Sanskrit Amara-Kosa; Gajave Ghumato Sabda-Kosa by
Mulvantrai Tripathi and Nitirai Vora (Junagadh, 1940), Ajoda Antyaksari Sartha
Kosa by Ramanlal Amritlal Desai (Baroda, 1945); and Nano Kosa by Upendra Bhatt
and Ratilal Naryak (Ahmedabad, 1956). Shantilal Oza’s English-Gujarati and
Gujarati-English Pocket Dictionaries are very popular, among the students.
I
have also produced 1. Laghu Kosa (in 1950). Guajrati Bhasano Anuprasa Kosa—Pt.
I (one and two syllabic words only, in 1951) and Basic Gujarati Kosa (in 1956).
Gujarat
Vidyapith, Ahmedabad’s contribution is also noteworthy. A Vinit Jodani Kosa for
students, Pocket Jodani Kosa, Gujarati-Hindi Kosa, Sanskrit-Gujarati Vinita
Kosa and Desya Sabda Kosa brought out by the Vidyapith are to be noted.
Stray
attempts are also found to collect words form some peculiar dialects and their
meanings, such as Katchi Sabdavali by Prabhudas Rangchodhi Pandya in 1886 A. D.
and Prantika Sabdasamgraha of Kadi Taluka of North Gujarat by Govindbhai
Hathibhai Desai in 1900 A. D. Upto-date attempts are from Dr. Shantibhai
Acharya of Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, who contributed in last three years,
1. Bhili—Guj. Sabdavali, 2. Katchi Sabdavali, and 3. Chodharioane Chodhare
Sabdavali.
Guj.
Bengali Teacher and Bengali-Guj. Vocabulary was published by Thakkar Devji
Gordhandas in 1924 A. D. from Bombay .
Here
I may mention two elaborate works : 1. Jnana—Cakra in 8 volumes by Ratanji
Faramji Shethna—Encyclopedia in Gujarati, of which vol. I was published before
1901 A. D. 2. Gujarati Jnana-Kosa Vols I-II only upto the beginning of letter
‘A’ by Dr. Shridhar Vyankatesh Ketkar from Poona in 1929 and 1925 A. D. No
further volumes came out. Gujarat Vidyapith of Ahmedabad has a scheme to
publish and encyclopedia and is collecting material in that direction.
Paurenika
Katha-Kosa and bhaugolika Kosa by D. P. Derasari were published separately by
Gujarat Vernacular Society-Ahmedabad in the fourth decade of this century.
Paribhasika Sabda Kosa i. e. Eng.
Guj. Vocabulary of Gujarati-literary terminology was published by the said
Society through Vishvanath Maganlal Bhatt in 1930-32 A. D. which was thoroughly
revised by Raghuvir Chodhri and brought out by the same institution. Vocabulary
of the Philosophical Sanskrit terms was also published by the same Society in
1937 A. D. through Chhotalal Narabheram Bhatt, a veteran Sanskritist of Baroda.
Purano-ma
Gujarat (Geographical names of places of Gujarat
found in Puranas) by Umashankar Joshi and Jaina Agama-Sahitya ma Gujarat
(proper names of people and places of Gujarat found in Jain
religious old literature) by Bhogilal J. Sandesara were both published by the
Society in the years 1946 and 1952 A. D. respectively.
Brahmavidya-no
Paribhasika Kosa-a small epitome of Philosophical terms was prepared by
Bhupatrai Mehta and published from Ahmedabad in 1938 A. D.
A
Glossary of the parts and Organs of the Human Body-Eng-Guj. And
Guj- Eng.
Was published by Dinsha Dadabhai Dordi of Navsari in 1941 A. D.
In the field of
administrative terminology J. P. Joshipura and B. N. Mehta prepared a tentative
vocabulary under the title-Shri Sayaji Vaijnanika Sabda-Samgraha and published
it in 1920 A. D. Equivalents in Gujarati were mostly new, but easy to be
understood. Old current Gujarati terms were also preserved where they were
suitable. The then state of Baroda
prepared an exhaustive vocabulary under the title-Shri Sayaji Sasana-Kalpataru
and published it in 1931 A. D. In 92 pages of Foolscape 4 size. Equivalents in
Marathi, Sanskrit, Urdu, Pesian, Hindi, Bengali, and current Gujarati were
given and in the last column new Gujarati terms were also suggested. Both of
these were able attempts to replace English terminology in Gujarati to
facilitate the administrative set up of the state.
Gujarat Vernacular Society of Ahmedabad published Osadhi-Kosa-Pt.
I in 1899 A.D. prepared by Chamonarai Shivshankar Vaishnav. In this vocabulary
names of 636 herbs were included giving Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, Bengali,
Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Persian, Arabi, English and Latin synonyms. Their
merits, uses, common class, natural class etc, were also mentioned. ‘Vanaspatisastra’
of Jai Krishna Indraji was virtually a descriptive vocabulary, best in
the field, published, in 1910 A.D. Nighantu-Adarsa in 2 volumes was another monumental work by Vaidya
Bapalal Garbaddas published in 1927-28 A.D.
It
may also be mentioned that terms used in muscular and other bodily exercises
were collected and published with illustrations by Dattatreya Chintaman
karandikar (Majumdar) of Baroda in
1948 A.D.
Popatlal
G. Shah (one of the founders of Gujarat Research Society-Bombay) and Bhogilal
K. Patva of Ahmedabad prepared a glossary of scientific terms-English Gujarati
in 1938 A.D. and published it in a Gujarati quarterly published by the Forbes
Gujarati Sabha of Bombay. Shri Shah,
after retirement from Bombay Government Service, devoted much of his time on it
and prepared an upto-date ‘English-Gujarati Glossary of Scientific Terms in
Nagari Script’, and it was published by Gujarat Research Society-Bombay in 1949
A.D. Thus Gujarat terms in Accounts,
Anatomy, Anthropology, Archaeology, Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Chemistry,
Commerce, Economic, Geology, Geography, History, Mathematics, Medicine,
Meteorology, Music, Navigation, Philosophy, Psychology, Physics, Physiology,
Politics, Shipping and Zoology became easily available.
Gujarat
Vidyapith of Ahmedabad has made some contribution in this field and has
published small booklets pertaining to herbs, arithmetic, science and
literature. But noteworthy is the
attempt of Gujarat University of Ahmedabad, through which from 1958 to 1964
A.D. a series of publications giving English Gujarati synonyms for items in
about 15 different fields have been brought out. Thus Gujarati has a huge store of terminology
to meet the requirements of most of the technical subjects in Gujarati for
preparing translations of English works and also for writing original works.
Thus a survey of
more than 160 years is completed. I have
tried my best to get first hand acquaintance of the works referred above, preserved
in the library of B.J. Institute of Learning and Research, Ahmedabad, excepting
a very few, for which I had to refer the Regional Library of Gujarat Vidyapith,
Ahmedabad.
This
is our wealth, so far preserved. But
this is not all. An exhaustive and
descriptive dictionary on the liens adopted in the preparation of Oxford
Dictionary is a bare necessity of the day, in which the historical development
of the structure as well as the meanings and quotational usages from standard
works ranging from the beginning of the Old Gujarati stage to the current
Gujarati use should be shown. To make it
upto date old as well as newly coined terminology is also to be noted therein
separately.
For
the comparative study of the related languages and dialects of Neo-Indo-Aryan a
dictionary on the lines of Nepali Dictionary of Prof. R.L. Turner is also
timely need. I am glad to inform here
that under my guidance Prof. Dr. L.D. Joshi of Modern
College in Sabarkantha vocabulary
of words with common roots from Gujarati, Vagdi, Marwari, Mewati, Malvi,
Nimadi, Marathi and Hindi/with Hindi equivalents. Preparation of purely etymological dictionary
has been undertaken by me My friend Dr.
H.C. Bhayani is collecting old Gujarati words with full references for
preparing his Old Gujarati Dictionary.
In
conclusion, I have to say that the earnest need in of bilingual dictionaries
involving all the languages of India
as source and target languages. A language may be of the Aryan branch or of
Dravidian Family, our cultural heritage being common it is not difficult to
translate one language into another. If
we have elementary bilingual grammars and basic bilingual dictionaries, our
integration will be far more easy.
Top
Hindi Lexicography since Independence and Its Future
Hardev Bahri
Preface, In this paper I have dealt with Shabda-Koshas, i.e., dictionaries, and therefore no mention is made of encyclopaedias, Sahitya Koshas, Katha Koshas, Charitra Koshas or other kinds of non-lexical dictionary.
This paper has a time-limit. Firstly, because the period before the Independence has to tell the same story of earliest verified dictionaries of synonyms and polysemes, of English-Hindi or Hindi-English dictionaries compiled mostly through field work by English civil servants and missionaries, and of students’ dictionaries prepared mostly from the materials provided by foreign lexicographers. The story tells a tale but lends no guidance. The only landmark was the Hindi Shabda Sagar by Shyam Sundar Das and others published by the Kashi Nagari Pracharini Sabha, and this has been revised, enlarged and republished. Therefore, it will be included in my survey in the following pages.
Secondly,
I have already made a survey of the entire lexicographical development in Hindi
from the 13th century to the present day in a paper read in a
seminar organized jointly by the American school
of Indian Languages and the
Linguistics Department of the University
of Delhi in 1968.
Hindi
has been especially active during the last twenty-two years in three areas of
lexicography :
(1) Monolingual dictionaries, i.e., Hindi into Hindi;
(2) Bilingual dictionaries, particularly Hindi-English;
English-Hindi; Hindi-Russian; Russian-Hindi etc., and/or Indian languages into
Hindi and the vice versa and
(3) Terminological dictionaries, which are, in fact, mostly
glossaries.
I
shall deal with these at length in the following pages. Before that, let me present a very brief survey of the miscellaneous types of dictionaries in Hindi.
The first in this category are dialect dictionaries : (a) Rajasthan
by Lalas, Jodhpur , 1962 ;
(b) Dingal (a literary language in the early medival period in Rajasthan)
by Narayan Singh Bhati, Jodhpur ,
1956-57 ; (c) Braj Sur Kosh in 4 vols. (based on Poet Surdas’ work) by
Prem Narayan Tandon, Lucknow, 1949; (d) Ramayan Kosh (a dictionary of
words from Ram Charit Manas of Tulsidas) by Kedarnath Bhatt, Lucknow,
1948 ; (e) Tulsi Shabda Sagar (based on all the works of Poet Tulsidas)
by Hargovind Tiwari, Allahabad, 1954; (f) Awadhi Kosh by Ramajna Dwivedi,
Allahabad, 1955; and (g) Mithila Bhasha Kosh by Dinabandhu, Darbhanga,
1950.
There are no dictionaries of Haryani, Kannauji, Kauravi Bhagheli,
Chhattisgarhi, Bhojpuri, Mahahi and Middle, Pahari (Garhwali and Kumaoni). Bundeli has one of proverbs, namely Bundeli
Kahavat Kosh by Krishnand Gupta, Lucknow ,
1960. There is a dictionary of proverbs prevalent in Bihar.
‘Kahavat Kosh’s Patna , 1965
and also a dictionary of Rajasthani proverbs by Narottam Swami, Calcutta ,
1949, and one of Malavi Proverbs by Ratan Lal Mehta, Udaipur ,
1952. Even Braj Bhasha does not have a general dictionary i.e., one based
on common speech. The Rajasthani dictionary is the biggest venture
in this respect. It is good that the study of dialects has attracted the
attention of scholars and that has happened only since the independence.
But it must be remarked that not even 10% of the total lexical wealth
of Hindi dialects has yet been explored. Much field work is needed. Without
a thorough investigation into the dialect field, a standard Hindi dictionary
may not be possible.
The
methodology of existing dictionaries is simple and hackneyed, and required no
special comments.
The
second category is that of dictionaries of idioms and proverbs. Besides the
dialect dictionaries mentioned above, purely Hindi dictionaries are quite
varied. ‘Hindi Muhavara Kosh’ by
Bholanath Tiwari, Allahabad , 1951,
is the biggest though not the most comprehensive.
I
have seen a number of Urdu dictionaries which contain hundreds of proverbs and
thousands of idioms which have not yet found place in Hindi lexicons. Some of the general dictionaries have
compiled a large wealth of idioms. They,
too, have not been explored.
‘Muhavare
aur Kahavaten’ by Balmukund Arsh, Delhi, 1957, and ‘Muhavara Kosh’ by Raghuvir
Sharan and Shriram Gupta, Hyderabad, 1956, are worth mentioning here.
They
may not be good compilations, but they have one merit in common, namely, a
clear explanation of usage of idioms and proverbs.
In
the third category, I include a dictionary of synonyms by Bholanath Tiwari,
Allahabad, 1954, which is based on ‘Amar Kosh’ and does not fully represent
Hindi ; a dictionary of synonyms discriminated, entitled ‘Shabdartha Dharshan’,
by Ramachandra Varma, Allahabad 1968, which is an extremely useful source-book
for the study of the various shades of meaning of synonymous words in Hindi ;
and a dictionary of definitions (Paribhasha Kosh) by Badrinath Kapur, Varanasi
1968, which is, in fact, a glossary of selected terminology.
I
shall now revert to the earlier survey of the chief categories of dictionaries.
Terminological Dictionaries :
The earliest of such dictionaries
appeared before the Independence ,
but they were mere glossaries of common terms. The first attempt at dictionary-making
was that by Bharatiya Hindi Parishad, Allahabad ,
1949-1950. But the work was immediately taken up by the Ministry of Education,
Government of India, which practically stopped all terminological programmes
except at the center. The Government mainly through its Hindi Directorate
and then also through the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology,
published quite a large number of subject glossaries. The number of glossaries detailed before is
based on figures available upto 1964.
Accountancy and auditing 2 Agriculture 5
Anthropology
1 Banking
2
Botany
4 Chemistry
5
Commerce
1 Defence
10
Diplomacy
6 Economic
Theory and thought 2
Education
6 Electrical
Engineering 2
Engineering
4 General
Administration 2
Geography
4 Geology
1
History
3 Information
& Broadcasting 1
Labour
Economics 1 Law
3
Literary
Criticism 1 Mathematics
5
Medicine
6 Meteorology
5
Overseas
communication Services 1 Philosophy
2
Physical
Geography 2 Physics
3
Political
Science 2 Posts
and Telegraphs 3
Railways
1 Shipping
3
Social
Services 1 Steno-typing
1
Tourism
1 Transport
1
Zoology
2
100
glossaries in all.
These
were edited into a consolidated Glossary of Technical Terms, Delhi ,
1962. Till then not much has been done
by the Hindi directorate and the commission for the Scientific and Technical
Terminology. The glossaries cover a vast field but are not intensive. They do
not satisfy any expert.
These glossaries
have since been revised and finalized by the Commission which published
thirteen glossaries upto the end of 1968: Science 3 Vols. (including
Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology), Engineering, 3 Vols
(including irrigation, Railway, Hydraulic and Soil Engineering, Electrical and
Electronic Telecommunication, Engineering, Building and Highway Engineering), Medicine l vol.,
Humanities 4 vols. (including), history, archeology, politics, philosophy,
psychology, education, sociology, social psychology and social work) and
Administration 1 Vo1.
These glossaries
have given Hindi a great Hindi a great impetus in becoming a medium of
instruction and examination in schools and colleges. Hindi has thus stolen a
march over its sister languages in the field of vocabularies. Glossaries for
terms in administration have also been published by Governments of Madhya
Pradesh, 1953; Bihar, 1955; and Uttar Pradesh, 1962; and also by the Hindi
Sahitya Sammelan, 1948. The Lok Sabha
has published a Glossary of Parliamentary Legal and Administrative Terms, New
Delhi , 1957.
Of private
ventures, the Vidhi Shabda Sagar i.e., Law Dictionary by Jagidsh Prasad
Chaturvedi, Agra, Samacharpatra Kosh by Satya Prakash, Allahabad and Ganitiya
Kosh (i.e. Mathematics) by Vra\ Mohan, Varanasi, 1954 are worth mentioning and
also the most important Raghuvira’s Consolidated Great Indian, 1950-52 and
Comprehensive, 1955.
The
technical, scientific and other terms have been mostly taken from English
text-books or terminological dictionaries. The result is that they are neither
exhaustive nor quite practical.
The Hindi
Directorate and Commission have taken twenty years to finalize their
glossaries, and during these twenty years at least ten thousand terms have
entered into the scientific and technological world. The text-books in our
schools and colleges are far behind the march of science and technology and so
is the vocabulary based on and culled from thes.
The Government
of India has practically killed all private venture in this field, and the
result has been disastrous for the advancements of terminological lexicography.
Another fact is
that the educational policy of the Indian Government vis-a-vis the medium of
instruction in textbook writing has been almost nil. The terms exist in
government glossaries rather than in books, and therefore the practical value
of such terms has not been fully tested.
The
terminologies have been coined or adopted to meet the need to schools, colleges
and government offices. They do not encourages original thinking in Hindi .
They have no bearing on research. They are not the expression of scientists
engaged in original thinking.
There is no
dictionary of Hindi terms, except Dr. Raghuvira’s which is now out of date. It is the reverse
of his reverse of his consolidated dictionary.
Bilingual Dictionaries:
I
may now enumerate bilingual dictionaries of general nature which have shown
rapid progress during this period
The number of such dictionaries is quite large. Mention may be made here of
Hindi-Assamese by Chhangan Lal Jain, 1952; Hindi-Bengali-Hindi also by
Gopal Chandra Chakravarty, Calcutta;
1958; Bengali-Hindi also by Gopal Chandra Chakravarty, Calcutta; 1958;
Hindi-Chinese, Peking Universty, 1960, Hindi-English by R/C. Pathak, Varanasi;
English- Hindi by P.N. Agrawala ,Delhi 1954, Kedranath Bhatta; Agra, R.C.
Pathak, Varanasi ,1958 Hardev Bahri, 1960, and Comil Bulcke, 1967;
Hindi-English Sindhi by Dipchand Trilok
Chand, Ajmer. 1962; Hindi-Gujarati and
Gujarati-Hindi both published by Gujarat
Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, 1961; Hindi-Kannada published by Daksnin Bharat Hindi
Prachar Sabha, Madres, 1951, one auch dictionary by Gurnuath Joshi, Hubli,
1950, and another published from Dharwar , 1954; Hindi-Marathi by Date and
Joshi, 1948, and such bilingual dictionary. By Krishna Lal Varma ,1951, another
by Kulkarni, and stiil another by Nene; Marathi-Hindi by Date 1948 and another
one by Vaishampayan;1949; Hindi-Malayalam one published from Ernakulam , one
from Quilon, 1951, one from Kottayam, 1956 and another from Alleppy 1958;
Malayalam-Hindi from Trivandrum , 1959; Hindi-Oriya by Nihar Patra, Cuttack,
1951 Hindi –Punjabi –Hindi (only vol. I, expected to be completed in four
volumes) from Language Dept., Patiala, 1953 and 1963 respectively;
Prakrti-Hindi by Bechandras Jivdas Joshi, Bombay, 1960; Hindi-Russian
(Beskrovny) and Russian-Hindi from Moscow, 1953, and 1959 respectively, and
another Russian Hindi by Rajendra Rishi from Delhi, 1957; Hindi-Sanskrit by Ram
Swarup Shastri, Varanasi, 1957; and Sanskrit-Hindi by Rashishwar Nath Bhatt,
Agra, 1955 : Hindi-Tamil and Tamil-Hindi by Tripathi, 1951 and published by
Dakshin Bharat Hindi Sabha , 1959 and 1962 respectively : Hindi-Telugu one from Rajamundry, 1953, and one from Madras, 1950; Telugu-Hindi
from Madras, 1960; Urdu-Hindi from Aligarh, 1955 and one from Agra and another
from Lucknow, 1959.
These dictionaries have mostly been compiled and edited by non-Hindi
writers. For a bilingual dictionary, the writer should
be a master in both the languages. Such men, unfortunately are not numerous
in India . Therefore, the qualitative value of our bilingual
dictionaries is very poor. They do not teach a language, which, of course,
is the main objective of the modern dictionaries of this type. They contain
a large number of substandard and doubtful words which have been taken
indiscreetly from Hindi dictionaries rather than from the living language.
Dictionaries
from and to Punjabi, Marathi and Gujarati are good. They are comparatively large also.
We
have dictionaries of the following types :--
Indian : Assamese
Hindi; Sindhi-Hindi; Kannada-Hindi; Hindi-Kashmiri; Kashmiri-Hindi;
Oriya-Hindi; Pali-Hindi; and Hindi-Urdu.
Non-Indian : We very
much need dictionaries with important languages like German, French, Spanish,
Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Swahili and Iranian etc., as one of the languages.
Monolingual Dictionaries :
(a) Dictionaries of less than 1000 pages :
This
category constitutes of monolingual dictionaries i.e., Hindi into Hindi
dictionaries of differing sizes : (a) Dictionaries having less than 1000 pages
– Hari Shankar Sharma’s ‘Abhinav Hindi Kosa ‘, Agra, 1947, 1951; Braj Kishore
Mishra’s ‘Rashtrabhasha Kosh’, Lucknow, 1951; Navalji’s ‘Nalanda Hindi Shabda
Kosh’, Patna, 1948; Shyam Sundar Dikshit’s Narayan Hindi Shabda Sagar, Agra,
1953; R.C. Pathak’s ‘Bhargava Adarsha Hindi Shabdakosh’, Varanasi, 1955;
Adityeshwar Kaushik’s ‘Ashoka Hind Shabdakosh’, Delhi, 1953; Mukundi Lal
Srivastava’s ‘Jnan Shabda-Kosh’, Varanasi, 1954; and still smaller dictionaries
from Wardha, Hyderabad, Allahabad and other places.
(b) Dictionaries of more than 100 pages :
Srivastava
and Chaturvedi’s ‘Hindi Rashtrabhasha Kosh’, Allahabad, 1952, pp.1555; Lal Dhar
Tripathi Pravasi’s ‘Pracharak Shabda Kosh’ 1950, pp.1064; Gyan Mandal’s ‘Brihat
Hindi Kosh’ by several editors, Varanasi, 1952, pp.1608; R.C. Varma’s ‘Pramanik
Hindi Kosh’, Varanasi, 1949, pp.1256; P.N. Agrawala’s ‘Nalanda Adyatan Kosh’,
Allahabad, 1957, pp.1586; R.C. Varma’s ‘Manak Hindi Kosh’, Varanasi, so far
published six vols. (3253 pages) and to be completed in ten volumes (5500 pages
in aggregate). The dictionaries in
category (a) are generally meant for students and are based on bigger
dictionaries. They are as old hackneyed
in technique as their bases are. We do
not have any dictionaries with progressive vocabularies, like those published
in English language, Reader’s Dictionary for intermediate students engaged in
wider reading and the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current, English
compiled for more advanced students. In
English, much research work has been done in the needs of students of various
grades and dictionaries compiled to meet their standards. Compilers of Students’ Hindi Dictionaries
have to learn much from Nuttel’s, Blackie Orient Longmans, Chamber’s and
others. The selection of words herein is
subject to the discretion and knowledge of the individual compiler, and the
meanings, too, are neither scientifically arranged nor illustrated from speech
or literature.
Even the bigger dictionaries, classed under category (b) are far
from satisfactory so far as modern lexicography is concerned. India
is much behind the west in this respect.
There is no dictionary of current Hindi or Kahri Boli. Historically, Rajasthani, Awadhi and Braj Bhasha
had in due course become literary languages. And their literature is quite extensive and
is studied in schools and colleges. Most of dictionaries, being verily
meant students, teachers and libraries, contain hundreds and thousands
of words which should now be labeled as dialectic, obsolete, archaic or
poetic. The two biggest dictionaries of Hindi Sahitya Sammelan and Nagari
Pracarini Sabha have now started marking such vocables with distinctive
diacritics. But the process is neither through nor authentic.
Take, for example, any page of either of these lexicons. I refer to page
7 (Vol.III) of the ‘Manak Hindi Kosh’. The following words appear as standard!
‘thiti’ and ‘thiti’ for ‘sthiti’ and ‘thir’ ‘sthir’, ‘thirjih for a fish, ‘thirata’ and
‘thita’ for ‘sthirata’ and ‘thuta’ for stuta’.
The
most important feature of a dictionary is its stock of words, Hindi
lexicographers have been dictionaries, words which are never used in
Hindi. Indiscriminate inclusion of such
vocables is misleading and useless.
There
is no institution which aims at taking stock of words in the whole range of current
Hindi literature, or which watches the growth of the lexical wealth of Hindi.
Isn’t it deplorable that such a big
dictionary as ‘Hindi’ Shabda Sagar’, an ocean of Hindi vocables : does not
give, e.g. under ātmá – such words as ātma-glani, ātma-darshi,
ātma-nigrah, ātma-nirbhar, ātma-pratāranā,
ātma-prvañcanā, ātma-balidān, ātma-shakti,
ātma-shiksha, ātma-shuddhi, ātma-sanrakshan, ātma-stuti,
ātmābhivyakti, and many others.
We do not find in it such words as
ācäryatv, āksarik, spatik, ādhārabhūt,
ādhunikatā.
I have
only shown a few words and those, too, under /a-/. I collected a list of about 100 words from
Prasad and another 100 words from Prem Chand which are not available in any of
the dictionaries. Every year hundreds of
vocables are entering into our lexical stock through news-papers, films, All
India Radio, fiction, and other kinds of literature. Hundreds of scientific and technological
terms have found recognition. But no
lexicographer has worried himself to collect them. There is not a single organization or society
which aims at taking stock of words in the whole range of Hindi literature, or
which watches the growth of the lexical wealth of Hindi.
Most of
the lexicographers are linguistically ill-equipped and unqualified. The planning in most cases, is done by the publisher
who simply knows that any compilation bearing his name and place would
sell well in his region. Dictionary-makers are usually not in touch with
modern trends in lexicography.
The order
of words has now been fixed although the place of nasalized letters is
still questioned because in the alphabetical orders +Ä /au/ comes after the simple vowels; but in the
dictionaries it precedes all vowels.
The question of pronunciation
presents some complications, but the Hindi lexicographers do not care to
consider them. They have thought that
Hindi script is scientific and as the Hindi-Hindi Dictionary is meant for
Hindi-knowing readers, including pronunciation is useless. But the question of inherent /a/ in a consonantal
letter is bothersome. The stress-accent
and syllabification also make difference in pronunciation. These are not indicated even in bilingual
dictionaries. It has to be borne in mind
that Hindi is learnt by hundreds of thousands of non-Hindi learners and
subtleties or pronunciation must be noted wherever they occur.
Etymology
has always been the weakest point in Indian lexicography. Except Platts (1884 A.D.) no lexicographers
has cared to take into account the researchers of linguists in the field. An etymological dictionary of Hindi is a
great desideratum.
The grammatical
designations of the words are now fixed, and most of the modern dictionaries
are uniformly cautious. Some of the anamolies of Hindi grammar, however,
have not yet been solved. For example, lānā, in Hindi, is not
a transitive verb. It is a compound word-le ānā. Khatm is shown
as noun, but it is an adjective. It is now a practice in modern dictionaries
to show all irregular grammatical forms of a word. For example, an English dictionary will show
under ban, that the /n/ is doubled in past tense or gerundial form, that
/t/ of write is doubled in past participle and that its /e/ is deleted
in ‘writing’. No Hindi dictionary shows irregular forms which words take
in their morpho-phonemic behaviour.
It is
worth consideration that derivations and compounds are given in the same
paragraph after the main word. That
would save much space and explain lexical connections. ‘Brihat Hindi Kosh’ and ‘Brihat Angrezi-Hindi
Kosh’, both published by Gyan Mandal, Varanasi ,
are the only dictionaries which do it.
It is generally for meanings that a
reader consults a dictionary, and it is this feature to which Ram Chandra Varma
and the Nagari Pracharini Sabha have given their particular attention. But there are two big flaws. Meanings and nuances are seldom illustrated
from speech and literature. In this
respect Hornby’s Advanced Learner’ Dictionary or the Universal English
Dictionary can serve as a good model.
Definitions
and explanations too, are not scientific. Compare pāni in ‘Hindi
Shabda Sagar’ –‘a famous liquid substance which is transparent, odourless
and tasteless. It is indispensable for moving and unmoving living beings. Like air, no living being can live without it’,
‘water in Webster’s – ‘the colourless transparent liquid occurring on
earth as rivers, lakes, oceans, etc., and falling from the clouds as rain:
it is chemically a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, water and under laboratory
conditions it freezes hard forming ice, at 32oF (O degrees
centigrade) and boils, forming steam, at 212oF (100oC). Or take ‘dhvani’ ‘sound’. Hindi Shabda Sagar-‘a sensation produced in
the organ of hearing of that object which is received by the organ of
hearing’ and a small English dictionary, entitled ‘Words’ – ‘Sensation
received through the organ of speech through vibration transmitted by
the air or other medium’.
Webster’s
is of course, famous for its scientific definitions of terms. Hindi
lexicographers need to learn much from it.
Meanings
should be indicated by specialized subjects in which they are so used.
The Hindi
lexicographers have yet to realize that such meanings as ‘a kind of bird’, ‘a
species of herbs’, ‘name of a flower or plant’ land the reader nowhere. A modern dictionary is getting
encyclopaedic. Webster’s New World
Dictionary gives the following meaning of ‘diarchy’.
‘Government
shared by two rulers, powers, etc.’.
The Hindi
Shabda Sagar says :-
‘That
form of administration or Government in which the right of administration rests
into two persons’. And then it gives in
about 20 lines the history of diarcy in India
under the Government of India Act, 1919 and its working.
So
elaborate. !
Also
under ‘dollar’, the Hindi dictionary says—“a coin of America: It is equivalent to 100 cents. In
value rate of exchange changes from time to time. Some time back a dollar was worth Rs.
3/2. Now its rate is India Rupees is about 4.87.”
Please
mark this particular volume was published in 1965.
The rate
since 1965 has been Rupees 7.50 for a dollar.
The
information, if it could be correct, was useful, although it could be written
in one line in lexicographical style.
But see
the following in contrast :-
Jwala
Malini : Name of a Goddess, according to Tantra.
Jyotiras
: A kind of jewel mentioned in Valmiki’s Ramayana and Brihat Samhita.
Jhallisak
: A kind of dance.
tandulaugh
: A kind of bamboo
tange : A
kind of tree
the
ordering of meanings has attracted the attention of lexicographers in the West. In India, no attempt has been made at finding frequencies of meanings of individual
words. Without this, the order is fixed
arbitrarily. The historical development
of a meaning can be another consideration. But this, too, has not been given any attention.
Sanskrit
words have lost a large number of meanings in Hindi but as the Hindi lexicographers
draw on Sanskrit lexicons, they never care to see that such meanings are
not at all prevalent in Hindi. For example, ÖÖê,
go.
1) Cow (2) Ray of light (3) A medicine (4) Organ (5) Speech (6) Goddess Saraswathi
(7) Eye sight (8) Lightning (9) Earth (10) Direction (11) Mother (12) Goat, Buffalo, Sheep or any
other milk giving animal, (13) Tongues and asmas (14) Bull (15) Sun (16) Moon (17) Arrow (18) Singer 19) Admirer (20) Sound (21) Water (22) The number nine (23)
Thunder bolt (24) Animal etc.
The fact
that there is no such word as ÖÖê
in Hindi. It exists only in some compounds like goshālā, godān,
godhūli, gop, gopal , gopastami, go-pucch, gobar, gomay, gomukh,
gomūtra, gomedh, goraksak, goraj, goras, etc., in which only one
meaning viz., ‘cow’ is available. In ‘gochar’ there is another meaning. That is all. The other twenty and old meanings
given in the dictionary are redundant, useless and misleading.
A modern
dictionary is supposed to give pictures, figures, charts and maps. If all the pictures from the entire volumes
of dictionaries in Hindi, unilingual as well as bilingual, are collected
at one place their number may not go beyond 500. these too are of very
minor importance. Picture of doors, pincers, stair-cases, aeroplanes,
books, chairs and tables will not help. Our dictionaries should gives
purely Indian articles which are not available anywhere outside the Hindi
region. Such an illustrative material is expensive, indeed. And an expensive
volume would not sell. Therefore, Hindi lexicographers do not feel encouraged
to include such material.
It need
not be repeated that accuracy in spelling, grammar usage and meaning is
the very essence of a lexicographical work. But it is regrettable that
even the glossaries published by the Government of India or by such responsible
societies as the Nagari pracharini Sabha which have received lakhs of
rupees in grants, are full of mistakes. I here refer only to four pages of the Hindi
Shabda Sagar :
Page 1725
iÉi´É‡¨ÉºÉ
…ÉäiÉEäòiÉÒ
for iÉk´É¨É‡ºÉ
…ÉäiÉEäòiÉÉä
Page 1770 Spelling
iÉi´É,
{ÉÉävÉÉ,
¨É½þÒxÉÆ,
¿º´ÉÉÆMÉ
Grammar ¤Éè±É
EòÒ
ºÉÓMÉ
Page 1771
ºÉƤɇiÉ printed
for ºÉÆiɇiÉ
VÉÒ´ÉxÉ Sɇ®úiÉ with
final consonant three times.
Meanings of
VÉÒ´ÉxÉ VÉÒ‡´ÉiÉ
®ú½þxÉä´ÉɱÉÒ
´ÉºiÉÖ
‡VɺÉEäò
EòÉ®úhÉ
EòÉä<Ç
VÉÒiÉÉ
®ú½äþ
in which the last clause
is redundant.
Etymology of
VÉÒ´ÉxÉ iÉi´É of VÉÒ´ÉxÉ
Sɇ®úiÉ
VÉÒ´ÉxÉ
+ SɪÉ
and VÉÒ´ÉxÉ
SɪÉÉÇ
is VÉÒ´ÉxÉ + SɪÉÉÇ.
All
waste of space
and time.
Page 1774 ¨ÉÚqùÉÇ
I have to
add a few more lines by way of additional information. I understand that the Terminological Commission
has published three additional glossaries of some post-graduate scientific
subjects, and that four glossaries have been sent to the press. The Ministry of Education, Government of
India has announced a scheme to compile and prepare a dictionary of Hindi along
the Webster’s.
I myself
have finished compilation of an English-Hindi Dictionary on the lines
of Universal and Advanced English Dictionaries. I intend to finish editing
it by July, and then send it to the press. I have also in hand the compilation of a Hindi-English
dictionary of Current Hindi (i.e. it will not include archaic, obsolete,
diatectic or purely poetic lexemes). It is expected to be as my English-Hindi
dictionary. Dr. Bhola Nath Tiwari and Mahendra Bhatnagar have prepared
a Hindi-English Dictionary which was due to be published in October last,
but has not yet seen the light of the day. Dr. Badri Nath Kapur has prepared
glossaries entitled ‘Shabda Parivar Kosh’ which can be good basis for
a dictionary with items arranged etymologically.
Hindi has
no historical dictionary, no dictionary of professional terms existing among
artisans speaking various dialects, no graded dictionaries based on lexical and
semantic frequencies, no rhyming dictionary, no word-finders, no etymological
dictionary on scientific basis, no dictionary of names and surnames. A dictionary of phrases and collocations is
another desideratum. We also need a
dictionary of difficult words. I have recently seen a small Hindi-Urdu
dictionary, Banaras, 1968, which I can recommend to
bilingual lexicographers. It gives only
those words which are not common to Hindi and Urdu. Dictionaries of such
exclusive words would be handy, useful and cheap.
In
conclusion, I have to add that Hindi is, of course, most forward in its march
on the lexicographical field. On an
average it has annually produced eight dictionaries during the last twenty two
years. It is creditable indeed.
But still,
it is far behind any Western standards. I have indicated some defects
which need our immediate attention.
Top
Research Plan for the Production of Dictionaries by Central Institute of Hindi, Agra
N.V. Rajagopalan
The
Central Institute of Hindi has been engaged in research for producing various
teaching materials and text-books for teaching Hindi as second language.
This
research work is being conducted on two lines, one, for evolving a method of
teaching Hindi to the non-Hindi language speakers and two, for the production
of teaching materials of various types and text books.
In the area
of the production of teaching materials contrastive study of Indian languages
forms the basis of our work. With the help of the research assistants
employed for such specific purpose and also with the help of the teacher-trainees
of the Nish¸at
course (which is equivalent to M.Ed., and where the student has to write
a disseration on a linguistic or educational topic) a considerable amount
of research work has been done. The members of the staff also have been
engaged in research. Part of this work has been published and much
awaits publication.
Preparation
of various types of dictionaries forms an important part of our research
plan. It is needless to say that in learning a second language, apart
from the phonological and grammatical aspects of the language, its lexicon
and the usage with particular semantic contexts are to be properly learnt.
Indian languages have a common cultural background with characteristic
regional differences and also draw heavily upon the Sanskrit language.
This commonness apart, the use of the same vocabulary in these several
languages varies and at times items are dissimilar in meaning. This poses
a problem in learning Hindi usage. Taking this into consideration, we have started
our work on dictionaries on the following lines :-
I. Study of the vocabulary of common origin used
in Hindi and other Indian languages. This study consists of the semantic
similarity, dissimilarity, different derivative meanings acquired in different
languages, and also the grammatical aspects, such as gender of the words.
The
Common Vocabulary of Tamil and Hindi (by Sri V.R. Jagannathan) has been
recently published by the Institute. A study of words of Arabic and Persian
origin used in Hindi (by Sri Sitaram) has been completed and awaits
publication. Similar work is nearing
completion with respect to Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Gujarati
languages. Some disserations prepared by
our teacher trainees are :
1. The Common Vocabulary of Hindi and
Punjabi.
2. The Characteristics uses of the common
words found (in Hindi and Marathi).
3. A linguistic study of words of common
origin found in Telugu and Hindi.
II. Second type of work on Vocabulary is as
follows :
The
basic vocabulary of Hindi (prepared by Sri V.R. Jagannathan) which proved
very useful in preparing Hindi lessons. This is being published now with the
synonyms in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. Plans are underway for the
preparation of graded lists of non-basic vocabulary pertaining to special
situations.
The compilation
of common idioms and proverbs also has been made our teacher-trainees of Nish¸at, such as :-
The proverbs of Hindi and Telugu
The
idioms in Hindi and Marathi
The idioms in Hindi and Punjabi
IV. The fourth type of work is bilingual dictionaries
of Hindi and other languages. Our plan is to prepare about twenty dictionaries
classified under three groups – One for High school students, containing
about 6000 words with additional entries of derivatives usages of Hindi
and with meanings given in any other Indian languages.
The second group is for the students of college courses. Such dictionaries will consist of about 18,000 words and their derivative usages.
The third group comprises :-
Hindi-Hindi dictionary
Dictionary
of Idioms
Dictionary
of Synonyms and Antonyms
Dictionary of Allusions and Symbols
The dictionaries of dictionaries under No. IV are only a part of a major plan, and the rest is to be taken up after finishing the first phase.
The preparation of dictionaries is to proceed along with the preparation of text-books, and help-books of various types intended for different standards.
Central Institute of Hindi, Agra