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JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY.

PART I.-HISTORY, LITERATURE, &c.

No. I.-1868.

Contributions to Persian Lexicography.-By H. BLOCHMANN, ESQ. M. A., Assistant Professor, Calcutta Madrasah.

[Received 11th April, 1868.]

One of the greatest lexicographical undertakings which so eminently distinguish our present time, is Lane's Arabic Dictionary. The Arabic student who hitherto had at nearly every step to supply or correct his meagre vocabularies, finds in it all he can desire. The learned. natives of India who had looked upon Fírúzábádí as insurpassable, are astonished to hear of a Madd i Qámús. England may indeed be proud of a work which marks an epoch in the history of Arabic learning in Europe.

We trust that the standard which Lane's Dictionary has created, will soon be followed by a compiler of a Persian Dictionary. There exists no reliable Persian Dictionary. Nothing worth the name has been done for Persian lexicography since the days of Castelli and Meninski. This is a matter of surprise, as there are most excellent sources from which a good Persian dictionary could be compiled. The deficiency of all existing dictionaries lies in this, that the compilers, one and all, have used secondary or tertiary sources, instead of having recourse, as Lane did, to original and carefully selected native works.

The sources for compiling a reliable Persian dictionary are the lexicographical works written by Indians. In India, as in Túrán,

Persian has been a subject of study and the medium of education. The value of the Indian dictionaries is fully acknowledged by the Persians themselves. Surúrí's Majma'ulfurs is indeed the only dictionary written by a Persian, which a compiler will have to consult ; and even this book is half Indian. The number of Irání lexicographists is small. The better dictionaries written before A. D. 1400 are mostly of Túránian origin. The very first Persian dictionary was written at Soghd. With 1400 the period of the Indian dictionaries Each is an improvement upon the preceding; in each we find the number of words and quotations steadily increasing, till we see them culminating in the Farhang i Jahángírí, which brought the old Túrání and Irání dictionaries into oblivion. The practical vocabulary, entitled Burhán i Qátí', which has been acknowledged to be the

commences.

جامع ترین لغات فارسي

closes the first period, the period of gathering, A. D. 1400 to 1652.

With Rashidi commences the second epoch of the Indian dictionaries, the period of criticism. The two dictionaries of this period, though not yet used by European compilers, must be the basis of a critical dictionary of the Persian language. Rashidi's Farhang-let compilers like obedient muríds follow this murshid !-is a critical work on all Indian dictionaries up to the Farhang i Jahángírí, whilst the Siraj ullughát by Khán Arzú is the indispensable Vade Mecum for those who use the Burhán. The Siráj is at the same time the last dictionary of note for the classical Persian. Towards the end of the past century at last, when sufficient time had elapsed since the death of Kalím, the last poet of the silver age of Persian literature, there appeared the Mucṭalahát ushshu'ará and the stupendous Bahár i 'Ajam, two works written by Hindoos on the Isti'mál i Mutaakhkharín or usage of the writers after Jámí, the last, though not the least, of the classics. The dictionaries of the present age, with the exception of the Ghiás ullughát, deserve no notice. The Shamsullughát compiled under the direction of a gentleman whose family is known in Calcutta for their liberality, and the Haft Qulzum of Lucknow are too full of typographical errors, to render their use desirable.

We may notice that nearly every province of India can point to a lexicographist. Bengal is represented by the quaint Farhang i Ibráhímí; Bahár by the Kashf; the Dekkhan by the Burhán; the

North-West by the Adát, "primum in Indis," the Muayyid and the Siráj; Sirhind by the Madár; the Punjab by the Farhang i Jahángíri and the Muçṭalahát ushshu'ará; Sind by Rashídí. Again, four dictionaries are dedicated to princes, and one bears Akbar's stamp.

When we compare the lexicography of the Arabs with that of the Persians, we find some remarkable differences. The Arabs have left us not only more, but they have also shewn a greater interest than the Persians for their ancient literature. Their dictionaries delight in quotations from the ancients. Persian dictionaries on the other hand abound in ancient words, for which there are no proofs, and for which it is now-a-days impossible to find proofs. This absence of proofs has caused varieties of spellings and meanings which are most perplexing. Many words are hopelessly doubtful. To distinguish such words in some way or other, is the first duty of a future compiler.

Another difference is this that in Persian dictionaries the language of the prose is not represented. All quotations are verses. Constructions of verbs with different prepositions are rarely, if ever, to be met with; phrases are never entered, unless they be poetical metaphors. Native lexicographists having thus neglected the Persian prose, modern compilers have still a field left for independent research.

II.

The sources which are absolutely required for the compilation of a reliable dictionary of the Persian language, are the following ten

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.1652 .written A. D برهان قاطع .1742 .written A. D فرهنگ شعوری

.1806 .printed A. D, شمس اللغات .1822 .printed A. D هفت قلزم

B.

F.

SHL.

HK.

V. Vullers' Lexicon Persico-Latinum, Bonn 1855.

.by the author in the Bibliotheca Indica آئین اکبری ...

The Burhan ought not to be used by future compilers except as a guide for the arrangement of the words.

The sources used by the authors of the ten works which I consider absolutely necessary for the compilation of a reliable dictionary of the Persian language, are mostly forgotten. Many of them perhaps no longer exist; others are only to be found in the libraries of Europe. The abbreviations in the following alphabetical list of the sources of the ten shew by whom they were used.

1.

Sur.

.FJ. Sar فرهنگ ابو الحفص سغدی .Ad., FJ., Sur فرهنگ ابو المنصور علی بن احمد 2.

بن منصور الاسدى الطوسي

FJ. This appears to be another فرهنگ ابراهیمی

dictionary than No. 28.

Sh., M., M., J., Sur. Vide فرهنگ آداة الفضلا

below.

3.

4.

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Sur., and Ma who mentions it, محمود بن شيخ ضياء الدين محمد

The Ma. calls . از کتب متأخرین as

hence ; تحفة السعادة سكندري it

it may be the same as No. 6.

.FJ., Sur.who found in someMSS, فرهنگ جامع لغات منظوم نیازی حجازي .11

حجازي instead of بخاری

Sur., R., B., Sir, Gh. Vide فرهنگ جهانگیری

below.

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12.

13.

14.

15.

16

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

.FJ., Sur فرهنگ حسيني وفائی
.FJ فرهنگ حکیم قطران
.FJ فرهنگ حسینی

.Ad, M., J فرهنگ دستور الافاضل
.FJ فرهنگ دستور الفضلا

.Ad., J فرهنگ رسالة النصير
.Sir., Bh., Gh. Vide below, فرهنگ رشیدی

فرهنگ زفانگویا جهان پویا المشهور بهفت بخشی تصنیف بدرالدین

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. فرهنگ ساماني

Gh. Vide below.

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سراج

اللغات

22.

23.

24.

. فرهنگ سرمه سليماني فرهنگ سعدي بن نصير بن طاهر بن تميم 25. الغزنوي که بنام خواجه نظام الملك نوشته و آن یک هزار و دویست و پنج لغت است FJ و مسمی بسخن نامه نظامی کتاب شامل اللغات تاليف قرا حصاري که معاني لغات را بترکی نوشته

Sur.

Sur شرح سامي في الاسامي الميداني

فرهنگ شرفنامه احمد منيري تاليف

Mu, Ma., FJ., Sur. Vide ابراهيم قوام فاروقي

below.

.FJ, فرهنگ شیخ زاده عاشق

-F. This is the Kasht فرهنگ شیخ عبد الرحيم بهاري

ullughát; vide below.

FJ فرهنگ شیخ محمد بهاري

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

صحاح الادوية تصنيف حسين الانصاري 32.

.FJ فرهنگ ضمیر

33.

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