Persian lexicography in India: A historical survey

Abstract

Persian, as a literary language, arrived in India in the eleventh century, and as its use extended, dictionaries began to be compiled from that century onwards. From simple glossaries, often explaining Persian words through their Indic equivalents, they attained a high academic standard with Injø’s Farhang-i-Jahāngīrī where there was an elaborate effort to trace etymologies and establish senses by quoting verses containing the words. It was around the middle of the eighteenth century in Delhi that dictionary-making reached its golden age with Ārzø’s outstanding linguistic researches and Bahār’s Bahār-i-‘Ajam, an authoritative comprehensive dictionary organised on historical principles.