CHAPTER 3
TAMIL AND ENGLISH BILINGUAL DICTIONARIES
71
CHAPTER 3
TAMIL AND ENGLISH BILINGUAL DICTIONARIES
3*0
Introduction
In this chapter a historical and critical sketch
of some of the bilingual English-and-Tamil dictionaries
that have been in use and are available for reference
in the public libraries in the city of Madras, is
attempted.
Each such account will first give
information about the name of the compiler(s), the
name of the publisher (s), the year of publication, the
year of the revised edition and the name(s) of the
editor(s) of the revised work, and the year(s) of reprints
and then present a critical examination of the
dictionary chosen for study, taking into account the
adequacy or inadequacy of its system and its relevance
to the requirements of the present-day users.
Suitable
materials drawn from the relevant dictionaries are
placed in support of the arguments presented in these
sketches.
Most of the works taken up for study have
English as the source language.
This is due to the
fact that the number of dictionaries that have English
as the source language is greater than the number of those
that have English as the target language.
72
3.1
The First Tamll-Enqlish Dictionary
The earliest work in Tamil and English lexicography
is Fabricius's Malabar-English Dictionary published from
Vepery, Madras, in 1779.
volume of 185 pages.
The work formed a quarto
This is the earliest of all the
Tamil and English dictionaries.
The compilers of this
dictionary are the German Lutheran Missionaires, Johann
Philip Fabricius And Christian Breithanpt.
Since Malabar
was synonymous to old Tamil to the Europeans of the
eighteenth century, it was called Malabar-Enqlish
Dictionary.
It was dedicated to the court of directors
of the English East India Company.
It was intended for
foreigners, especially the missionaires in South India.
Subsequent lexicographers like Rottler (1840) and
Winslow (1862) who adopted the materials of this work
refer to this dictionary as the Old Malabar Dictionary.
It was reprinted in 1809 and made available for public
use.
The 1809 reprint was also known as Malabar-English
Dictionary.
It contained 9000 lexemes and a large
collection of idiomatic phrases.
The title page of the Malabar-English Dictionary
reads as follows:
73
(Fabricius, John Phil; and Breithanpt John Chr.]
J£l51(^U3
c^QblJrT^i .
A Malabar and English Dictionary, wherein the
words* and phrases of the Tamulian language.
Commonly called by the Europeans the Malabar
Language, are explained in English;
English missionaries of Madras,
by the
Printed at
Wepery, near Madras, in the year MDCCLXXIX
The decision to assign asterisk marks to words
of Sanskrit origin was first taken and put to use by
the compilers of the Malabar-English Dictionary,
Since
the 'Signs of grandam words become usual in the Malabar
language# *
asterisks were used to separate the Tamil
words of native origin from the grantha words.
In 1897 Leipzig Ev, Lutheran missionary H. Belsenherz
published a revised and enlarged edition of the
Malabar-Engllsh Dictionary,
This 1897 edition of
the dictionary is known as F,P. Fabricius*
and English Dictionary.
Tamil
It is also known as Tranquebar
Dictionary as the 1897 edition was published from
Tranquebar.
Beizenherz in the preface to the first
edition of the Tranquebar Dictionary states:
The present volume is an enlarged and
much improved edition of the work on
which it is based.
While care has been
taken to add to all these words and
phrases in the said larger dictionaries
which are thought to be of practical
utility to students, several new terms,
meanings and phrases have also found a
place in this edition, which contains
a collection of 11590 Tamil primitives
and 21,305 derivatives and phrases.
Important among the improvements introduced by
Beizenherz in the Tranquebar Dictionary are the following
i) The citation form (headword) chosen for the
Tamil verbs is in the imperative.
ii) Tamil verbs which are regular appeared for the
first time in a dictionary with verb-class
numbers.
For this purpose, Graul's classification
of Tamil verbs into classes I to VII was
adopted.
iii) The dropping of not only obsolete words but
also rare words and meanings transformed the
old dictionary into a "good and handy,
Tamil-English dictionary.M
75
A second edition of this Tamil-Enqlish Dictionary
was published in 1910.
Though more words were added
to this dictionary a few space-saving measures like
"removal of repetitions", "use of infinitives in the
f
place of verb forms with tense and PNG markers" were
adopted.
Beisenherz was responsible for all these
Improvements.
An entry taken from the fourth edition
revised and enlarged (1972) is given below:
, s. wave, billow, t£)<sjmr ;
4. blacksand
<B\ld66<«t
of the sea, c^^isuKJu^gsi^lnpgj
<^<5?n<ju<nJrTMj0i0h<jmfj
3.2
2. sea;
3. fullness,
Lakshmi, as born out
the wave rises;
shore, coastline.
Perclval's Dictionary
An Enqlish-Tamil Dictionary compiled by the Rev. P.
Percival is a bilingual dictionary that has English as
the source language.
appeared in 1861.
The first edition of this dictionary
Its revised edition of 1935 was
published by The Madras School Book and Literature
Society,
This edition contained 441 pages.
Earlier
editions of this dictionary had the following on the
title page:
'Anglo-Tamil Dictionary, with the Tamil
76
words printed in the Roman# as well as in the Tamil
characters intended for the use of European officers#
soldiers and others employed in the several executive
departments under the Government of Madras••
The revised
edition of 1935 was reprinted in 1953 and in 1961 as
authorised by the Director of Public Instruction# Madras.
The 1961 reprint of the revised edition of 1935 is used
for the present study.
As the reprint of 1961 is not
intended for the use of European officers# who hardly
have any role to play in the post-Independence India#
the Tamil words were not printed in the Roman characters.
Each entry page of this dictionary is vertically divided
into two parts and each such part carries three letter
guides such as ABA, ABO etc.
The first letter of each
entry word is capitalised.
Abbreviations used in this dictionary are explained
in three lines on the first page of entries.
The
grammatical designation given for a noun is substantive
and s. is the abbreviation used.
Words that have a
Latin origin appear in this dictionary with the
abbreviation L. placed in parentheses (L.) against
them.
The following are two such words:
77
Ab* ini'tio#
Ad
(L.)
li'bitum#
(L,)
c94u?.6vm6L_ ,, c%£l6)0&rTLr£i(£).
SltnpLUUup.
The grammatical designations of these words are not
given while those of others which are of native origin
are indicated.
Even foreign words that are in active
use in the speech or writing of the users of English
are treated in the same way as the native English
vocabulary items are dealt with.
The following entry
taken from the dictionary will illustrate the point.
Vice-Ver*sa# ad,
sr^jjruAj
, LorrojTHJ ,
ia<r})Gj6V)6\)i4Jmil
In this entry the abbreviation ad. stands for the adverb.
It is useful to record the fact that Kazhaqam EnglishTamil Pocket Dictionary (1982) by K, Appadurai and
English-Tamll Dictionary (1965) compiled by an
editorial team led by Dr, A. Chidambaranatha Chettiar
give the grammatical designation 'adverb* to the
expression vice versa.
French words appear in Percival*s bilingual
(English-Tamil) dictionary with the abbreviation (Fr,)
marked against the entry.
But, surprisingly# the
abbreviation Fr, is not included in the list of
78
abbreviations explained in this dictionary.
As some
abbreviations used in this dictionary are not explained,
it is difficult for the user
t6
determine the term
or word represented by the abbreviation.
The following
entry taken from the dictionary will illustrate the
statement made above:
Abe'rration, S. igcu^J, <ru<g>*,
LDKJ^ffililjtDrTnrjfTUUD in astr.,
j of mind,
r^<ftn<5\JU)rW)hj €^tT(5trrnr)<5&
A user of this dictionary might wonder whether the
abbreviation astr. used in the above entry stands for
astrology or astronomy.
Phonemic transcription is not used in this
dictionary to indicate the pronunciation of individual
items of entry.
Nevertheless,
a system of transliteration
using the letters of the Roman alphabet is employed
to guide the users in correctly pronouncing words
that are often mispronounced by some users of the
source language.
The following taken from some entries
of the dictionary would serve as examples:
Col*umn
(kol'um)
Comb (Com)
Depot*
(de-po*)
Car * riage
(car * rij)
Accoucheur*
(ac-cu-sheur*), Fr.
79
Stress is marked for all words that have two or more
syllables.
Primary as well as secondary stress is marked
for polysyllabic words.
But there is no provision in the
system used to differentiate the primary stress from the
secondary stress in a word.
(eg. inter'na*tional).
Both of them are marked alike
Hence the user would have problems
in identifying the primary or the secondary stress.
For
some polysyllabic words, only the primary, not the secondary
stress, is marked (eg. examina'tion).
All the nouns in this dictionary are designated as
substantives.
Useful information, such as whether the noun
is abstract, countable, or uncountable, is nowhere indicated
in it.
Plural noun forms are listed against the singular
noun entry eg. Leaf (pi. leaves).
This type of listing
the plural against the entry of the singular noun is
applicable only to nouns whose plurals are not derivable by
adding the -s or -es to the singular noun form.
The plural
of singular nouns such as baby, country, city etc. are
not listed against their singular nouns as they are easily
derivable by replacing the last letter y of a singular
noun by i and by adding -es to the modified singular
noun form.
But the plural of the singular noun wife is not
shown against its entry in this dictionary. The plural of calf
is also not indicated in the entry relevant to it. A similar
80
statement; can be made with reference to entries for
the words half, hoof, wolf, shelf, and scarf in this
dictionary.
However, the plurals of thief and knife
are indicatedi
Knife (nif), s.
Thief, s.
j frt&fQrfl&neo
pi. knives
(pi. thieves) S<rir<5Tr<5?fr,
Gffrrjtsm-jCQ^^tnri-^rTrjcjOT.
In the former the plural form is given at the close of
the entry while it follows the grammatical designation
in the latter.
The plural form is placed within brackets
in the second while it is not in parentheses in the first
entry.
The failure to indicate the plural of words
such as half, wolf, hoof etc. shows how unsystematically
the compiler treats similar lexical items.
There are
several other examples of inconsistency in the format
followed in the dictionary.
The users look up the past-tense forms such as
did, went, stood etc. in their alphabetically appropriate
places, not in the places where their root forms are
given.
One may list the different forms of do in the
order in which they are dealt with in this dictionary.
Did, p.t. of do.
Do, v.t.
do for,
LKTBSTdSpj 3 rQ&npoeeuptgj 3 S5Lggj;
^ §urre£)tD j
6T<5WTR(g)lb
I have done with him,
0bO'rfI Hit£>
^6\j<5?n<nj *,
81
help me, do,
6T6&r0s(g^
cL«5dd)
3
Qffi/un-j €ix><rar ;
I had much to do to pacify him, fBrreor <^(£l0bu
Ul.0
c^<su<50V5bt
dHf£mn<si)
cfJ^ron^lSdOTGffT;
irrewff)^ c9+,®>
\S\tjvunG-ii
I have done with it,
^cnsroTi^uj^i
r£)6inrr)G6ii(£lrpg}
better pay the money and have done with it, u6OffTC£<5tr)0>0b
61e>rr(5^ cHtflitfiJ<5rrerfj] 6\)
Do, v.i.
<f)0F>rr<5\><5iFi6ij
^u,
3 diirrwj 5
how do you do? CTuuiq.
Do*er,
s. ^IffMjd^rrxsTj^Vj
Done, p.p. of Do;
r^f5j(g3)ii).
nj
j <nj«rruij(b^, <^(5)3
p
g?it0)0)<svt
to be done, ^eb.
There are five entries related to the word do.
The verbal noun 'doing* is not entered at all.
Nor
is the third person singular present tense does treated.
Negative forms such as don't, doesn't, didn't are not
even referred to in any of the entries listed above.
The anomalous verb do receives no treatment in this
dictionary.
Had the compiler included all the
information he has given in the above entries in one
entry, he could have saved some precious space.
The
writer gives three sentences to illustrate the use of
do with.
He could have done that in one or two sentences.
He could then think of introducing one more phrase
82
such as do away with.
By giving all the information
he has given in the five entries in one entry, he could
have helped the user in his identification of the
other forms
of do.
The word call has four entries in this dictionary*
In each of them it is grammatically differently
designated*
The entries are given bClows
Call,S*
fficffsr©
s
3 5p5U6\j 3
€uffu £ufr(£<ru 3 ^uni^ebQaTesWretf)®, £>
as a divine vocation, rr-#0rijrTft^l6?nc>3T
many calls upon my purse,
ib 3 fOgmjpkuj
# I have
otcwt ’
su^vxj&ssr&ua
to give one a call, 6urTwj0S0E><5?raT(b) 6uef.
Call, v.t* Bn-ui5)(51j
as name,
c^<K5)t£ as convoke,
61jnjif)(b) 5
to call over names, ^u^^Jrr0ifcujlS)^-',»
«
to call by name,
61unirr
forth,
S-^^rrauuCSlg^)
urrrfeBR
;
to call out,
to account,
to call
to call to mind, r£W<rcT^gJU
^creurtfjnL-^ 0S<r?ni£0b03j, to call
(rQffrTjjawsBffras 0b<5tDt^®Kjto call to witness,
&rrCif)frG><xnipdeB -a
Call, v*i.
yU6riL£®0= j
to call back , £61X5™-, <s^l5U0505.
Gumb&fortemr ;
to call out,
to call for,
0oi_<5TJ y 0ia.<5:61ni<5B)y)®es ,
gebilBo ;
to call upon,
\S)rj rrrrg>th os •
Call'ing, v*n. <31<S)ipuu) > pnLD05rj^WTtb
2—^^)€wurr©LDj
(Sl^rn^oru ,
3
ScjtrrrmmAJLfl , <5T5)rTj£j^).
,
83
The meanings ‘occupation*
(
e_05«£l&wjrr05LD
(
) and *job»
) are givahfor both the substantive
call and the verbal noun calling.
As the substantive
call is not used in this sense, the Tamil terms
8_sj^gnjrrffiLO
,
(job), and
6)E5m£)<ru
listed under call must be deleted.
(occupation),
Neither the
derivative caller nor compound words such as call-girl
and call-money are found under the entry call.
According
to ALD (1975) the meanings of the phrase to call something
forth ares
a) be the cause of
b) produce and use.
But
the meaning listed under call v.t. for the phrase
to call forth
is
(to encourage).
As this phrase is not used in this sense, the meaning
given for it in this dictionary is not acceptable.
Special uses with adverbs/prepositions such as ‘call on1.
Call at, call off, etc. are not dealt with in this
dictionary.
Idioms are neither paraphrased nor defined nor
illustrated in this dictionary.
Popular idioms such
as a bolt from the blue, a bee in one * s bonnet, and
to hit the nail on the head receive no treatment.
However, the idiom to take after somebody is included.
It is neither listed nor paraphrased but illustrated
84
in a sentence (he takes after his father, c^<nj<s*rr gjObuueoT
S^rrnJ<5Tjri uf)@0SE0Q)rT53T ).
The compiler shows a preference
for the idioms of the register of religion*
For
instance, under the entry Eye, v.t. the only idiom
that has been dealt with is to eve with favour, gsLrT0«i£lG605.
Idioms such as to see eye to eye, are not dealt with.
Different senses of a word chosen for an entry
are indicated by using the semicolon (?) as a demarcation
between one sense and another.
For one particular sense
of the word the compiler sometimes uses a few words which
are synonyms in Tamil.
The different synonyms listed
as translation equivalents of one particular sense of
a lexical item of an entry are separated from each other
by a comma (,).
One of the entries taken from the
dictionary is given below as an illustrations
Charge, s. 05L'uRn<jrr , ^urr^iULj , ^a^rTjjtfwaT , (g^rocoff-ffniSSl,
b;
as exhortation, 2_u§j^ii)
;
05(@\ i,'i urrujgeru , of a gun, <Q(&)
as onset,
05jJu!fl©LD
(£p\gs\5kj<j?jr ; as duty, ausmo , e>i:<S)uLjrT(b)}
as expenses,
, <j6)<55vs\j; to lay to one's charge, <9©<nj6ar
£IDp 00303£50rLDS0 .
LD@n5^j
85
The Tamil words that are listed as translation
equivalents of an item of entry are not true synonyms,
but they have among themselves a common semantic area.
In the entry given below the Tamil words given as
translation equivalents are synonyms.
Com’bat ,
6urrrT,
ff-<5vsr<str>l ,
.
The punctuation mark that demarcates one synonym from
another is a comma.
Sometimes the comma is used to
indicate sense discrimination.
The following entry
will serve as an illustration:
Class,
Sh-L-’UD, <5U@uq >
, <®csotib > u
We can, therefore, conclude that the compiler deviates
from the norms evolved by him for giving information in
his dictionary.
1) Debt (det), s. €bL<ftrr , <*Q@<remo.
2) Window, s. utnj ExsWr) 3 ffntfrrrni)} ffrT6U0SLD}
3) Doz'en (duz'n), s.
U6vrsvr)rf6mr(S), BjJsurnrpffib.
4) Deceit*less, s. r£)<np0bL!L 9 6i)6]F>&&iopjp
The second translation equivalent in the entry for debt
and the last translation equivalent in the entry for
window are archaic.
The terms
in (1)#
.
86
6urr(g>ithjtfzrsTlq
and
in (2),
g)J6xjire;&ib
in (3)
in (4) above are not in use today.
As
these terms are examples of archaic language, they will
be of very limited use to the present-day users of this
dictionary.
3*3.
Winslow*s English-Tamil Dictionary
There are two Winslow dictionaries often referred
to in any discussion on English and Tamil bilingual
dictionaries.
One is an English-Tamil dictionary and
the other is a Tamil-English dictionary.
Winslow's English-Tamil Dictionary compiled by
Rev. M. Winslow, L. Spaulding and C. Appasamy Pillai
was first published in 1844.
in 1852.
Its second edition appeared
Two reprints were released by Asian Educational
Services, New Delhi in 1980 and in 1983.
Though there
is a demand for this dictionary, it is lacking in some
respects.
Provision of primary stress is the only help
given for English headwords.
Phonemic or phonetic
transcription is not provided for English words.
Pronunciation of Tamil words which appear in the
dictionary as translation equivalents is indicated using
the Roman letters and a few diacritical marks.
There is
87
hardly any explanatory matter other than grammatical
designations.
used.
Neither style nor subject labels are
Meaning discrimination is indicated using
punctuation alone.
Users would require more guidance
for a clear understanding of the different senses.
3.4
Winslow's Tamil and English Dictionary
Winslow's A Comprehensive Tamil and English Dictionary
of High and Low Tamil is the most popular Tamil and English
dictionary In use.
The compilation of this dictionary
was first started by Rev. J. Knight, Church Missionary
at Jaffna.
Gabriel Tissera, a learned native connected
with the American Mission, assisted him in the compilation.
The compilation of this dictionary was completed by
Winslow as Rev. J. Knight had to give up the work for
personal reasons.
This dictionary was first published by the American
Mission Hous^,Chintaderipet, Madras in 1862.
It contained
fourteen pages of front matter and 976 pages of
dictionary entries.
A reprint of this dictionary was
made by Franz Steiner Verlag Gmfoh., Wiesbaden, in 197,8.
Another reprint of this dictionary was made by the
Asian Educational Services, Delhi in 1979.
A note
given on the last page of the dictionary makes a
comparison of this work with Rottler's Tamil-English
dictionary:
This dictionary contains more than 67,000
words, and Rottler's nearly 37,000. In
the former are 67,452*the latter 36,901;
making 30,551 more in his work than in
Rottler’s.
The proportion
are the same in each;
of Primaries
this dictionary
having 22,214 primaries of which 7,944
are Sanskrit and 45,238 Secondaries, and
Rottler's having 12,168 Primaries and
24,733 Secondaries.
The front matter of this dictionary consists of
preface, directions for using the Lexicon and the plan
of the Lexicon.
This comprehensive Tamil and English
Dictionary, as its title indicates,
embraces both the common and poetic
Dialects of the Tamil language, including
its principal Astronomical, Astrological,
Mythological, Botanical, Scientific and
Official terms;
as also the names of many
authors, poets, heroes and gods.
Containing
as it does, upwards of 30,000 words more
than any similar work, it wLll, it is
hoped, be found a most important help
in acquiring such a knowledge of the
language as will enable the student to
really profit by its literature*
It
will also be found useful to those who
wish for condensed information on the
philosophy, the religion, the superstitions,
and the customs of the Hindus*
This dictionary provides a lot of encyclopaedic
information dm words that have a cultural specificity.
A reading of the following entry would suggest
that this dictionary performs the functions of a
dictionary as well as an encyclopaedia*
<3\fo6r\&>]\AJ6<k / <B\ 8&J5 f§) HJdOT
s* A poet
and sage celebrated in the Ramayanam,
Skandam and other works of antiquity*
He is regarded as the framer of the
Tamil language which he is said to have
learned of Skanda, the son of Siva.
He is also the reputed author of several
works, still extant, in whole or in part,
in the Tamil language;
such as, a grammar.
Materia Medica, a work on astrology.
Astronomy, and several essays on the unity
of the divine being, as opposed to the
popular system of polytheism, fit c*
He is regarded as the son of both Mythra
and Varuna by Urvasi;
is represented
to be of very short stature, and to
have been born in a water jar.
He is
fanned for having compressed and swallowed
the ocean, for the sake of celestials.
Other wonderful stories are also told of
him, and received with undoubted credence.
He is considered as the regent of the star
Canopus, Win. p. 5 AGASTYA.
There are three columns on each page in the
dictionary.
Each column of the dictionary entries has
a two letter (Tamil) guide placed at the top.
An asterisk is placed at the head of Sanskrit
words.
For words borrowed from other languages and
in use, the name of the source language in its
Abbreviated form appears within brackets (eg. {Feurrvsxj,
S. [Persian]
,
&6DrT63r-<S£6i}nm, S.
Winslow in the preface
[Hindi )•
(p. vi) gives expression
to his preference for linguistic purism.
His argument
for preserving the purity of Tamil might be appealing
to the native speakers of Tamils
It is evident that there was an early
literature in Tamil independent of
Sanskrit;
and now, within certain
range of thought, omitting terms of
91
art, science, religion in a great
measure, and certain abstract forms,
we may write in pure Tamil, as in
English we may in pure Saxon.
In fact
the nearer we approach the Shen-Tamil
the less we need Sanskrit.
Winslow gives the root of the verb as the leading
word.
This is an innovation in the treatment of the
verb because early lexicographers like Fabricius and
Rottler give the present singular neuter as the headword.
The verbal conjugations of present, past and future
tenses are listed in the entry in full for regular as
well as irregular verbs.
Though this mode of treating
the verbs is space-cohsuming, it makes matters easy
for the second language learner of Tamil.
The following
entry taken from the dictionary would illustrate the
point•
<®rf) , ^)g<T)6OT a
3 6<5u<rar »
To be destroyed, broken,
uj
, n . v.
2. To be
routed, defeated, discomfited,
.
3* To retreat, flee away-as defeated
armies, to scamper away through fear,
£^rrn>e©L—
4. To run, flow, recede as waves - as darkness before the rising
sun, &c.,
6. To fear,
5. To incline, ffffwu
(p).
92
There is.hardly any guidance on the pronunciation
of Tamil words which form the source language entries.
Nor is there any indication of pronunciation for
English words shown as translation equivalents*
This
dictionary does not provide any phonological information*
Abbreviations used are not fully explained.
The
editor states under 'Directions for using the lexicon*:
The Abbreviations scarcely
explanation.
need
The principal are, prov*
at the beginning of a sentence, provincial/
at the end, proverb;
Sanskrit, Hind.
Pers. Persian;
Hindustani;
for. foreign;
fig. figurative;
verbal noun;
St. or Sans.
inf.
Ar. Arabic/
Mah. Maharatta;
infinitive;
v. nouns,
appel. , n. appellative noun;
priv. privative.
In the preface by the Syndicate, University of Madras,
to the Tamil Lexicon Winslow’s A Comprehensive Tamil
and English Dictionary is described as "out of date
and defective as a Dictionary of Language and
Literature".
This sweeping judgment does not detract
from the merit of Winslow's dictionary which as shown
above incorporates some very useful features.
The
English explanations given in the dictionary are
93
instructive.
There is no doubt that Winslow's
dictionary has made a substantial contribution to
subsequent English-Tamil lexicography.
3*5
Tamil Lexicon
The next dictionary taken up for discussion
is Tamil Lexicon,
A suggestion to update Winslow's
Tamil and English Dictionary came to the Government
from Sir Frederick Nicholson in 1905.
The then
Government of Madras gave thought to the matter and
decided on producing a dictionary of Language and
Literature so that "there should be# for so ancient
and important a language, with a classical literature
of so unique a character# a dictionary of its subject."
Further# it was believed that "the publication of a
standard Tamil Dictionary would foster the growth
of such literature.", Work on the Tamil Lexicon began
in January 1913.
Views from scholars in different parts of the
world were in favour of (1) 'an extended investigation
of obscure words'
(2) indicating 'the philological
relations of Tamil with other languages* and (3) 'clearly
94
explaining the words used in spoken and literary
Tamil in terms of English words and idioms.*
The entire Lexicon treats 1,04,405 words in 6
volumes.
A supplement consisting of 20,000 words
was published subsequently.
Volume I of the Tamil
Lexicon has A History of Tamil Lexicography which
traces the history of unilingual (Tamil-Tamil) and
bilingual (Tamil-English) lexicography.
This historical
sketch of Tamil lexicography does not dwell on
English-Tamil bilingual dictionaries.
The Plan of the Lexicon indicated in the front
matter outlines the arrangement of entries in the
dictionary and of the items in an entry as follows:
All words, derivatives and compounds
as well as parent-words, are
arranged
in a strictly alphabetical order, viz.,
(1) vowels, (2) the aspirate aytam, (3) mute
consonants, each with its syllabic series,
and lastly the Grantha letters adopted
(vide the Transliteration Table). The
general order in arrangement of an
article is as follows: 1) the word,
(2) the transliteration,
(3) the part
of speech (4) the origin and derivation
95
(5) the cognates,
(6) the meaning
(a) in English and (b) in Tamil and
(7) quotations under each meaning, with
chapter and other details of the authorities
cited, as also illustrative expressions.
All these seven features are not, of
necessity, present in all or even in
the majority of words? (4) (5)and (7)
may be absent under many words for
obvious reasons.
Information about the treatment of the word is
given in 21 sub-sections listed under The Word.
Sub-division
2 indicates the scope of treatment that a lexical
item receives in the lexicon.
It reads:
Words of all parts of speech, words in
ordinary use in Tamil, either of native
origin or derived from Sanskrit or other
languages, words in corrupt forms that
usage has sanctioned, words with veiled,
euphemistic or ironic meanings, the argot
or cant of special classes, technical
words and expressions, literary words
and
phrases, technical terms of Tamil grammar,
prosody and rhetoric, the special vocabulary
of the nursery, the dialectal
speech of
the vulgar and of special communities - all
these find their appropriate places in the
lexicon.
96
All headwords are transliterated for the benefit
of the non-native users of Tamil,
The transliteration
used 'exhibits only the equivalent of the written word,"
Phonemic or phonetic representation of the word is not
attempted.
Etymological information is supplied wherever possible.
It immediately follows the transliteration of the entry
word.
The following entry would serve as illustration:
aljaku,
<
(Taku) 1. Greens, edible
leaves;
5*30
2. A Girl* s name;
.'f
i00><yrf)rr
<n^<ftn<rrrM_irTL©
fa-L6\nsm&sruJrTfinarnurTLrr6i}b—
C^cnnowrijorfbJ .4-0
&<ttprhi&STG6vqvsdt•
e^Ug)1
Essies*
ataku, n. 4. c^<nnLX — . (K, adavu*
•
pledge,
w
Power of Personal Property; 61gE>rTgji«m*nJ .
6*5(9
C\un^6rr
0
Sfoup&nmo
(^t5)uLj0>-
The verbs are divided into 13 classes making use of
Graul's classification of Tamil verbs,
this can be found in chapter 4.
A discussion of
Information on whether
a verb is transitive or intransitive is indicated.
metalanguage used for this purpose is English.
Illustrative materials from literary works are
quoted and indication about the source of the quoted
lines can be found at the end of the relevant entry.
The
97
Illustrations from living language use is rarely found.
As the language used in these quotations is archaic#
a non-native user of Tamil will find it difficult to
understand the use of the word in its context in
these quotations.
Though this dictionary is planned on a large scale
with a view to giving representation to all items of
vocabulary# in current use or in earlier use, many
common words in current use are not included in this
dictionary.
Treatment of some important words and
derivatives of some others and idiomatic use of some
terms are not included in this dictionary.
Terms like
(a female building-construction worker) att<5
QuiflmiiTOT
(a male building-construction worker) are
not found in this dictionary.
Under each entry# all
forms derivable from the headword are not listed.
the entry
Under
/ carakkf /# which means commodity#
derivative like
(buy the commodity)#
(arrival of the commodity)
<§)
t£l<SV)PU
(price of the commodity)
(send the commodity)
etc. are not listed.
These derivatives# same of them
being idiomatic# would be useful for the non-native
users of Tamil.
98
3*6
The Kazhaqam Dictionary
Kazhaqam Engllsh-Tamll Pocket pictlonary was first
published in
in January 1957,
1952*
Its second edition appeared
There were eight reprints of this
edition* the last of which came In June 1982.
Its
compiler is K* Appadurai Pillai and the two editions
and the eight reprints were published by The South
India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society*
(Tinnevelly) Ltd., 79 Pragasam Salai* Madras 600 001.
It comprises viii +664 pages.
An index of abbreviations
precedes the short section containing notes (1 &
Tamil.
2) in
The preface to the first edition written in
Tamil by the compiler precedes the dictionary entries.
This preface written in Tamil contains two English words
given as equivalents of Tamil words.
idiom (
uorrH
They are
) and raciness (
u,«b5TL|
The compiler in the preface says that the translation
equivalents of English words in this dictionary are
purely of Tamil origin and words from other languages
are avoided as far as possible.
The following example
taken from the dictionary will illustrate the point:
Window* n. aFrnsrrrjio
; Utfu£&<rart/r) ,* ebrmigjrr.
)•
99
Uncommon words such as pnengv
,
u«\>eb<rf) and Rnvsv^rr
are preferred to a popular word ggeyrewou as the latter is
of foreign origin.
The Tamil equivalent given in this
dictionary for the word Crown is
etc.
The compiler shows his preference for a native word (tfltf
as the word
, though commonly used in the
speech of Tamilians# is of foreign origin.
The compiler's
puristic attitude and his preference for uncommon
words when the common words are of foreign origin can
be understood from the examples cited above.
The preference
of early dictionary writers for non-Tamil words
is in contrast with this dictionary writer's puristic
approach while giving translation equivalents. dEflmpib
is the Tamil word that comes to mind as a translation
for the English word Poison.
to s£)apib
.
But the compiler prefers
This preference is in agreement
with his purist intention made clear in the preface.
For the word democracy the translation equivalent given
is
(fikpiiJrril#) ,
not
a*£<nrTGvrrTuJ&Lb
.
In daily
conversation only the latter, not the former# is used
on most occasions.
In the index of Abbreviations there are forty-seven
entries.
All of them except the last five entries are
abbreviations for English words.
alphabetically arranged.
They are all
Some of them are given below:
100
a* - adjective
ag. - agentive noun (s^oznffznrMirrffuWtfmjru-jLb fTIunirr)
conn, - connected words
poet, - poetical
”
s. - secondary (noun, adjective etc,)
Two of the last five entries of the Index of Abbreviations
are in Tamil,
Of these two, the former is an abbreviation
for a Tamil word while the latter is a Tamil word
which is the translation equivalent of the English word
shown against it.
They are the following:
tfUrrwUtnSluJffU
- Logic
The compiler could have used the abbreviations gr,
for the former and log,
(logic) for the latter.
(grammar)
It is
not easy to know why the compiler has deviated from the
pattern.
It is also not known whether he wants to make
matters easy for the user by this provision.
The last
three items in this list are symbols, not abbreviations,
A Tamil word noted against each of them indicates their
significance.
They are the following:
X
Ot^lfTLD6V)p0
>
£o2JrTffr
Some of the abbreviations stand for grammatical
designations such as a.
art.
(article) and PI.
(adjective), ady. (adverb),
(plural), some are functional
101
labels such as ag,
(agent!ve) and vbl.
and some others indicate
poet,
(verbal),
stylistic values such as
(poetical) and fig, (figurative),
in the list
there is an abbreviation to indicate the fact that some
adjectives (eg. asleep, alive) can be used only
predicatively.
But there is no abbreviation that can
be noted against adj ectives that can be used attributively
not predicatively (eg. arch)•
The symbol (X) included in the list of abbreviations
stands for antonyms.
But the exaplanation noted against
this symbol is a Tamil equivalent of the term negative,
not antonym.
This symbol (X) is used to indicate the
antonym of the headword in an entry (eg. consequent X
antecedent, congratulate X condole, deduction X induction,
defensive X offensive).
In each of the entries related
to the pairs, i) congratulate and condole
and offensive, antonyms are indicated.
ii) defensive
But in the
entries related to the pairs, i) consequent and antecedent
ii) deduction and induction, the antonym is indicated
in the entry of the first, not in that of the second,
word of each pair.
We can, therefore, conclude that
the writer of this dictionary has not followed a uniform
102
procedure for the treatment of antonyms in this
dictionary.
In the entry related to protract# its
antonym retract is not given, whereas in the entry that
has retract as the headword# protract is indicated
as its antonym.
In the absence of any statement that
governs the treatment of antonyms in this dictionary#
the user will not know where to look for an antonym.
Surprisingly, synonyms of the headwords of entries
are not indicated at all.
There is not much help given to the users of this
dictionary in pronouncing the English words correctly.
Nevertheless, the guidance available in the entries
related to some words that are difficult to pronounce
is quite useful.
The following entry taken from the
dictionary will illustrate the point.
Ewe# n.
(n. sheep) 6)ua^n cfy®.
The guidance on pronunciation in the entry above is
in the form of a transliteration.
For the guidance
in the form of transliteration the compiler uses the
letters of the Tamil alphabet# not those of the Roman
alphabet.
The following are some more examples
from the dictionary:
103
1. Neglige, n (
0 ffi®rf)e°o ^) &<mry@6tncr)
2m Acme, L<&&-i£))
3, Ague,
2_<sm.
y\, i£\m eLuurf)nj r^srri6\j, (y)eh(£)
n.@nf\tT&>mu&&<sb ; pQ&g-tii>
4. Bouquet, n.
(61urr<3bg&) lotsurrff
5* Bourgeoisie, (^iT^ffurT) r\, 0S\$g>g- <nj®Lhj
6. Breath,
n.
7. Breathe,furP.'o^)
8. Breeches,(urf*#0tfit)
p^ffr
a» breathless, 2_vASlff)ff\><5Ui7^,
v.^,^
2_*5)rf <nmr*j|g)
n. KrTtfue^RnL
In the entries 1 and 4 above grammatical designation
precedes the guide to pronunciation whereas in the other
entries it follows the guidance on pronunciation.
Here
are two entries taken from the dictionary with a guide
to pronunciation;
Bath.
(U„*) n.rgWft; ggrtU,
Bathe. (eu.Sj) v.-f^rr® J
;
Using Tamil letters of the alphabet for transliteration
in this dictionary sometimes fails to bring out the
distinction between voiceless and voiced consonants.
The noun first cited above has the voiceless dental
fricative /0 /
whereas the last sound of the second
word, a verb, has the voiced fricative / & /•
The
Tamil letter that is used to indicate the final sound
in the transliteration of both the entries represents
104
a voiceless dental plosive.
As a result of this the
differences between a voiceless sound and voiced sound
is obliterated.
A user who receives such an inadequate
clue is likely to pronounce the words Path and Bath
alike making no distinction between the voiceless and
voiced bilabial plosives.
The compiler has given no
guidance on pronunciation in the entries related to
the words Sheath and Sheathe, as it is not possible to
bring out the distinction between the voiceless dental
fricative and the voiced dental fricative in his system.
Stress is not marked for the headwords of the
entries.
However, stress marks are given for words
in which grammatical distinctions can be brought out
by a change of stress in them.
The following entries
taken from the dictionary will illustrate the points
Condu*ct, v.
n. con'duct,
J3uj;<smt5 ;
*
.
n, conductor,
<nai£l|£fTLli£j 2&k0(£gjl6<ntftmTdi}eirr
n. conduction.
Contra* st v.
n*
Si&nio ; tyui£)C(5)
urr<S)0i6?n<jrr®,
(co*ntrast) &<njQ£)njrT(S^ l &<n¥giisn(Si6rt6rr (flurT(?5Wrr,
105
Stress falls on the first syllable for nouns and it
falls on the second syllable for verbs
above.
In the entries
A user of this dictionary will miss this point if
stress is not indicated in entries cited above.
The compiler of this dictionary sometimes gives
misleading information or wrong guidance on pronunciation.
Let us study the guide to pronunciation given in the
following entry:
Facade, n. (e'otfuSffC)
(£pl®>UL| » (3>Wf
The pronunciation indicated in the second edition of ALD (1962)
is /fa'said.
/•
The compiler gives an incorrect
representation of both the syllables in the word.
The
following would be an improved version of his guide to
pronunciation in the above word, using the system
followed by him:
Facade, n. (ug^rrc}
The compiler can very well make use of sane diacritical
marks to bring out the distinction between /p/ and /f/
on the one hand and /p/ and /b/ on the other, since
there is only one letter in the Tamil alphabet system
to represent these three sounds.
As the Tamil letter
L-which is a voiceless retroflex plosive is used to
106
represent a voiced alveolar plosive in this system
of transliteration, it becomes necessary to introduce
some diacritical marks in order to make the guide to
pronunciation as phonemically accurate as possible.
Word stress can easily be indicated without any
loss of space.
The most important guide that a compiler
of a dictionary can give the users is the indication
of stress, both primary and secondary, in all the
entries*
Marking stress will not pose a typographical
problem.
The users of this dictionary will feel greatly
handicapped to get at the pronunciation of headwords
for which neither phonemic transcription nor stress
marks are provided.
The grammatical designation of headwords is
indicated in all the entries in this dictionary
(eg. Minion, n.).
Irregular plural forms are indicated
(eg. Minimum, n. pi. Minima?.
If a singular noun has
two plural forms, one the regular and the other the
irregular plural, both the forms are noted against the
singular: for Matrix, both matrixes and matrices are
listed.
Adjectives that have irregular comparatives
and superlatives (eg. Bad, a., worse, worst) are
107
also listed,
Nouns such as Monk, Duke, etc, are
designated as nouns, not as masculine nouns.
However, some
nouns of the feminine gender are noted against the
headwords which are masculine nouns* Some feminine nouns
are designated as nouns and sometimes in these entries
there is instruction for the user to look up the
relevant masculine nouns (eg. Duchess, n, see Duke).
Non-human masculine nouns such as cock, dog, etc,
are marked as nouns and their feminine nouns are not
noted against them.
But in the entry that has lion as
the headword, the feminine noun lioness is rioted against
the masculine noun.
Hence we can conclude that the
compiler is unsystematic in the treatment of gender in
his dictionary.
Different meanings of headwords are numbered in
some entries while in some others they remain unnumbered.
Two entries are given below to illustrate this:
Pit, 1, n, <niff6)ui_|6rf>nuJ S
ulj
.
2. v, ^l<rzD6OTT ; 61urr@f5J§J;
6)dfT(F§irt>§} i Ua>fg)(&
+,3.a.
(I) fitful,
;6)an(£)^>u>rT<m
rSxsm.Qurp&rD
in fits and starts,
ag, fitter.
j
crfiiCCb)
phr.
(2) n,
(3) n.abs. fitness, a. fitting.
108
Floor, n. f$6iju3; i*?SJSg><nTu. y,*«rni ^(AiajiSUu^*
&g)tT<X)&>y- ' (Cpli^Tj>lMJUJ)L
3*7
.
uawlHif fifem
.
tiooring.lmi
A.C. Chettiar's Dictionary
A* Chidambaranatha Chettiar* s English-Tamll'
Dictionary was first published by the University of Madras
in three volumes, the first volume in January 1963 and
the third volume in June 1965*
published as a single volume.
It was afterwards
A reprint of it was made
in 1981 and it was priced at Rs.65/-.
consists of xxv + 1223 pp.
This reprint
The Concise Oxford Dictionary
(1958) is taken as the source for the preparation of
the basic word list of this dictionary.
It comprises
the Chief Editor's Preface (xi ... xiii). Hints for using
the dictionary (xv), Tamil versions of the Preface
( xx *•• xxi) and
Hints for using the Dictionary
(xxiii ... xxiv), English abbreviations (xxv), Tamil
abbreviations (xxvi ... xxvii) and the Dictionary entries
(1 ... 1223).
It is compiled by an editorial team
having Dr. A. Chidambaranatha Chettiar as the chief
editor, Sri K. Appadurai as assistant editor and six
others designated as assistants.
The Senate of the
Madras University passed a resolution at its meeting
on 27th October 1955 to the effect that necessary steps
109
be taken for the compilation and publication of a
standard and authoritative dictionary.
The Syndicate
of the Madras University formulated a scheme for the
implementation of this proposal and the University
Grants Commission came forward to meet 66 per cent
of the total expenses during the first three years
of the project accepting the proposal.
The Advisory
Committee of the project formulated ’certain principles
for adoption of Editorial Staff*.
Two of the eight
principles enunciated by this committee are given belows
1. Each derivative from a word is to be taken
as a separate word in order to help the
consultants.
2. Ehrases in frequent use are to be included.
Useful information is found under 'Hints for
using the Dictionary'•
In fourteen short paragraphs,
information on treating a word in one or more entries,
scheme for giving etymological information on the
origin of loanwords, illustration for the use of
specialist register labels etc. are given.
Primary stress is marked for headwords of entries if
these words are polysyllabic. The^e is no indication
of stress in this dictionary for monosyllabic words.
110
Phrases dealt with under an entry are mostly without
stress marks•
Words and phrases of French origin
appear in this dictionary without stress marks.
The
following would serve as examples:
douane,
( &\$. ) n. OijjnpJffa<nj iq
divertissement,
( i%.
) n. ^nLe&eb gbrrutfefigg;®
SirTLiLULKSkb ^n5)wu
r£L&nm&>m:&\
However, accent is marked for Latin and Italian words.
The following are examples:
ad eun'dem ( tfu. )adv. &\uLu^^lpg^,
uiroia&tfOTcwgi, E6^o»^^rt<ru
adag'io (
Q&orT6rr<smiLM:<Q
6)ta<s<ir6irr<s&)i-; a..
) n.
&&rr<?o6yi
Ann’o Dom'ini (A.D.) (cu)
^evuer&hjTTtfJrT Synmyev £l.i5)
Neither phonemic transcription nor transliteration is
used to indicate the pronunciation of headwords.
Nevertheless, some foreign names or terms are
transliterated using Tamil letters of the alphabet.
An example taken from the dictionary is given below:
Adon’is, n.
S\o<> liSrjrTtfTnLL
(Aphrodite) <JT<52rt<gyLb
LDft^)c5?rrrT«0 0bfT03tf6)0i0E,UUi:L. <^5^)67Tr%©U3£JWTi
<nSWrr 6\j @tsmio yipfouAJrt&sr,
Ill
The spoken forms of neither the plural morphemes nor
the past-tense morphemes are indicated in this
dictionary.
The user of this dictionary does not get
adequate phonological information to produce the
speech forms of the words listed in this dictionary
as secondary stress is not marked anywhere.
Not to
give any other guide to pronunciation than accent
marks is in accordance with one of the principles
formulated by the Advisory Committee for adoption by
the editorial staff.
The following is that principle:
The pronunciation of the English words
need not be given in Roman or in
International phonetic script or
in Tamil script.
It would suffice to
indicate the English accents without
syllabification.
The Advisory Committee has taken this decision in order
to limit the size of the dictionary and in order to
preserve space for an elaborate treatment of meaning.
The grammatical designations of derivatives treated
as separate words in this dictionary are indicated in
the entries related to them.
A distinction between
112
nouns and pronouns Is made.
But no distinction between
countable and uncountable nouns is indicated;
nor is
that between transitive verb and intransitive verb.
The past tense and past participle forms of irregular
verbs are not indicated in the entry in *foich their
root forms occur.
Users are required to look them up
in the places in which these derived forms occur
according to their alphabetical order.
If the derived
forms cannot be guessed from the root forms, the users
will find it difficult to find them, as in the case of
wind/wound, and qo/went.
In a bilingual dictionary the lexical items of the
source language are set beside the corresponding
lexical items of the target language.
To achieve this
goal much explanatory matter is used in the bilingual
dictionary.
According to Iannucci this explanatory
matter can be in the form of “usage labels, subject
labels, syntactical explanations, designations of
1
parts of speech and gender, meaning discrimination etc."
In some entries there is hardly any label other
than grammatical designation.
Subject and usage labels
and syntactic information are rarely seen in the entries.
James E. Iannucci, "Explanatory Matter in Bilingual
Dictionaries," Babel 5 (1959), p. 195.
113
Punctuation is the only device used for meaning
discrimination.
But its usefulness is very limited.
Iannucci says,
Most bilingual dictionaries use punctuation
to group together synonyms and to separate
words of different meanings.
The most
common system is the use of the comma
to separate words of different meanings.
Such a device could be called meaning
discrimination but only in the broadest
sense. Its usefulness, of course, is very
limited.^
A bilingual dictionary that lists meanings without using
much of explanatory matter will be useful for those who
have a good command of both the languages.
Mario Pei
remarks:
Dictionaries (bilingual) are of limited
help because most words in one language
have a dozen possible translations in
another, which means that in order to
use the dictionary properly you must
first have command of the two languages,
in which case you are not too likely
3
to need the dictionary.
2
James E. Iannucci, "Meaning Discrimination in Bilingual
Dictionaries": Anew Lexicographical Technique",
Modern Languages Journal (1957), p. 272.
3 Mario Pei,
The
Sfcors of
114
A.C. Chettiar*s dictionary lists many Tamil
meanings for the headwords in English,
Synonyms for
each sense discriminated are given wherever
possible.
Users are not given any help in identifying phrases or
clauses that convey any of the meanings listed in the
dictionary.
What the users require is the use of the
headword in a context so that they can easily understand
the meaning (s) of the word.
labels are given.
Sometimes field and style
The metalanguage used for this
purpose is Tamil.
cage, n.
#)<j3inr>
3
(9
(fft&faiO Qurrr£\
<9te\J<nig)j
>
'2*a£rr0)0i>crantfrr cLairr^ 65
g^Uui> j eSidiS) <^cnnLULj ;
61^<Tl&^K>0brr<ror fft-’Liri i
v. 0ia_52rsrru?tru
^«npnSl(b> j
cnrp
;
(S^vsu^^l^ .
In the foregoing pages of this chapter historical
and critical sketches of sane of the Tamil and English
dictionaries in use have been given.
In these accounts
their merits and their shortcomings are referred to.
After taking note of the adequacy or the inadequacy of
the phonological, grammatical and semantic information
given in these dictionaries, it is necessary to consider
the problems involved in presenting such information
in bilingual dictionaries.
Hence phonological and
grammatical problems in bilingual dictionaries will
be given consideration in the ensuing chapter.
Problems connected with semantics will be taken up
for discussion in chapter 5.