Tuesday, May 08, 2018

In search of a Urdu Dictionary

Lately, I have been searching for (the right and the best) Urdu dictionaries for meaning, context, etymology and pronunciation of various words. Given the ease of the cyber world, my search has centered on the resources available online. Here is the summary of my endeavors.

Before providing a list of various dictionaries of Urdu language, it might be handy to have an overview of the history of various dictionaries of Urdu and its lexicogrphy. In this context, Molvi Abudl Haq's introduction to lexicography in Urdu, at the beginning of Lughat-e-Kabeer's volume 2 (1977) is quite useful. Shamsur Rahman Faruqi's (1990) article in Annual of Urdu Studies also provides a good overview. Similarly, Saleem (2007), adds history and development of Urdu dictionaries in the Journal Linguistik, Another great source for this is an article by Rauf Parekh, a well known linguist and lexicographer of Pakistan, who also has also served as Editor on the Urdu Dictionary Board. Dr. Parekh provides a detailed review of various dictionaries of Urdu, in his article in Dawn  (2013). Moreover, Urdu Lexicography has been the focus of a few doctoral thesis in local universities, including the following three:

Now, here is a selected list of some of the major dictionaries and lughat of Urdu language.

Post partition dictionaries and lughat from Pakistan:
In 1958, the government of Pakistan established Taraqqi-i-Urdu Board (aka Urdu Development Board which was later named as Urdu Dictionary Board in 1982) in Karachi. The main objective for this was to compile a comprehensive Urdu dictionary "keeping in view the standard of Greater Oxford Dictionary." The Board has published a 22-volume Urdu Lughat called "Urdu Lught Tareekhi Asooloon Par [Urdu Dictionary on Historical Principles]. The volumes, comprising 20,000 pages took more than 30 years to publish--between the years 1977 to 2010. These volumes can be searched online on the Urdu Board site and can be accessed here. In addition to that the Board is also working on a shorter 2-volume version of this dictionary. The effort that will be successful is going to contain about 300,000 words. The Board is also working on developing an android and apple based application for the search page. Just to make it clear, the search the largest urdu dictionary here:
Online search for Urdu Lughat 

A digital version of volumes 2 to 21 have been scanned and uploaded by Rekhta from India, as part of their massive collection of Urdu/Hindi publications from the sub-continent. Here is the link for that:

While the rekhta resource is a great help, the drawback with that is that you you have to flick through the pages to look for the  specific words and meanings. For this it is handy to know which volume contains which of the alphabets (see the image file next to this paragraph for details or check the UDB link). The University of Chicago's Digital Dictionaries of South Asia also plans to digitize this dictionary and make all the volumes searchable through their website. They are however, still working on their plans to digitize and upload the magnum opus.



The government of Pakistan has also produced two other online dictionaries (English to Urdu and Urdu to Urdu dictionary). The (English to Urdu) dictionary compiled by the National Language Promotion Department/ Idara-e-Tarraqi-e-Urdu Zaban (aka idara-e-faroghe-qaumi zaban) is available online on nlpd site . Available in hard bound copy, this is also called the Muqtadara Dictionary. The main page of this site also hosts various other lughat/dictionaries which are worth a look. The site also hosts "Farhang-e-Talaffuz" (pronunciation dictionary) by Shahul Haq Haqqi in 1995. Though useful but its biggest drawback is limited word stock.  

The Ministry of Information Technology, Pakistan also attempted online Urdu lexicography and produced an comprehensive Urdu to Urdu dictionary/lughat (2006). This can be used for online search for meaning and explanation of Urdu words. (As of 2021, the link does not work anymore. It seems the new government has revised the Ministry site and Urdu lughat was not found to useful. If you are curious, here is the site from internet wayback machine).

Some other dictionaries published in Pakistan after partition are:
Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad. Kitabistan's 20th century standard dictionary(1971).

Ferozsons English to English and Urdu dictionary has 50,000 words and idioms and phrases in English with meanings in Urdu and English both.

Feroz-ul-Lughat 1992 (Urdu to Urdu) Standard Twentieth Century Dictionary also known as Feroz Sons Jamae Dictionary.

Lughat-e-Roz-Marrah  (dictionary of colloquial Urdu), compiled by Shamsur Rehman Faruqi (2003) published by a local press of Kararchi. Read the preface(s) for history of changes in the spoken Urdu language. This was also published from Delhi, in 2011.

The father of Urdu language Molvi Abdul Haque had started working on a mega dictionary (lughat-e-kabeer) project for Urdu language, in the thirties. After partition he brought the compilations with him to Pakistan. Parts of this work were published by Anjuman e Taraqqie Urdu Pakistan (in 1975) as Lughat-i-Kabeer Volume 1 (1973) and Volume 2-part1 (1977). This dictionary also includes a detailed account of history and development of Urdu dictionaries. 

An online Urdu thesaurus, compiled by Mosharaf Ali Farooqi was launched in 2014. It can be accessed here. It is also available as a mobile app.

A dictionary of Urdu Slang has been compiled by Rauf Parekh. Available on internet archive and rekhta

Post partition dictionaries from India:
The National Council for promotion of Urdu Language, India also has published a 6 volume English to Urdu dictionary (1994-98). Compiled under the chief editorship of Prof. Kalimuddin Ahmed, it includes more than 250,000 English words, phrases and idioms. The website of the Council also hosts several other useful resources related to Urdu language. One can download the pdf version of all the 6 volumes from their website. (links are not working anymore. Even the link from internet archive does not have the pdf files.)

Muhazzabul Lughaat, 13 volume, published from 1958 to 1982.

In addition to this, the national digital library of India hosts several "Lughat" and dictionaries.

In this section I would like to add this very useful Hindi Urdu Lughat. It is available on internet archive.


Dictionaries and lughat from British period

Gharaebul Lughaat (~1695), considered the the first lughat of Urdu was compiled during Aurangzeb's period and was compiled by Mir Abdul Vasi Hansvi (Datta, 1988)   published in eighteenth century. It explained Urdu words in Persian (Parekh 2013). I could not find any online version of this.

John Gilchrist’s English to Hindustani dictionary (1778-1790) English to Hindustani (meaning is provided in Roman letters), available on internet archive. He is considered the father of Hindi grammar!! And imagine, his dictionary came out around a 100 years before Platts!!!

Shakespear, John. A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani. (1834)

Fallon . A new Hindustani-English dictionary, with illustrations from Hindustani literature and folk-lore (1879)

After several years of (re)search and usage, I have decided the best dictionary for me is the one compiled by John T. Platts (1884). Thankfully a fully digitized version is available on University of Chicago's database of resources related to South Asia. Thought is a Urdu to English dictionary, but you can provide key words for search in both English and Urdu.

Farhang-i-Aasifiya is one the oldest and comprehensive Urdu to Urdu dictionaries. It took Syed Ahmed Dehlvi around 30 years to complete and its last volume appeared in 1898.
Containing around 60,000 entries this dictionary encompasses 4 volumes (1888-1901). All of the four volumes are available online on internet archive.*

Ameer ul Lughat by Ameer Ahmad Ameer Meenayee, 1891. The same lughat (in two parts and better resolution) can be viewed on rekhta site as well.

Noorul Lughaat by Noor-ul-Hasan Nayyar Kakorvi, comprising 50,000 entries in 4 volumes, was published between 1921 to 1931. It is available online on internet archive for viewing and/or downloading. This was re-published by National Book Foundation, Islamabad. Parekh (2013) notes that "Noorul Lughaat is one of the authentic Urdu-Urdu dictionaries [and]... it is second only to Farhang-i-Aasifiya."** The University of Chicago is working on digitizing this.

Standard English-Urdu Dictionary. by Moulvi Abdul Haq, 1937. The dictionary can be accessed in pdf and other formats, from the internet archive.


Translation:
A great online resource for translation to and from Urdu, is the service provided by Google. Though not perfect, they are getting better with time.


Footnotes:
Farhang e Asfiya:
Volume 1: Contains letters alif to tay.
Volume 2: Contains letter tay to zay.
Volume 3: Contains letter seen to kaaf.
Volume 4: Contains letter gaaf to Yay.

Noorul Lughaat:
Volume 1: Contains letters alif (الف ا) and bay (بے ب).
Volume 2: Contains letters pay (پے پ) to khey (خے خ).
Volume 3: Contains letters ddal (ڈال ڈ) to kaf (کاف ک).
Volume 4: Contains letters kaf (کاف ک) to yay (یے ی).


References:Parekh, R. (7 October, 2013). Noorul Lughaat: a dictionary much underrated despite its merits. Dawn. http://www.dawn.com/news/1047943
Datta, A. (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian literature: 2. New Delhi: Sahitya Akad.

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