Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی
Author
Permanent member of Persian Language and Literature Academy, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
As in most areas of thought, science, economy, politics and culture of Iran, Azerbaijanis have been both pioneer and diligent in the field of lexicography for Persian language. The fruit of their efforts in this area includes a very long period of time from the oldest periods of the Dari Persian language with ancient examples such as the Qatrân’s lexicon (5th century AH) to recent years and an example such as “Great Sokhan Dictionary” (published in 1381). This history and tradition is an ancient and fruitful achievement, and in this essay, we provide a brief report of this great and continuous historical effort with a review of the most famous and well-known examples of Persian dictionaries written by Azerbaijanis with a critical eye.
Highlights
The contribution of Azerbaijan in Persian Lexicography[1]
Introduction
As in most areas of thought, science, economy, politics and culture of Iran, Azerbaijanis have been both pioneer and diligent in the field of lexicography for Persian language. The fruit of their efforts in this area includes a very long period of time from the oldest periods of the Dari Persian language with ancient examples such as the Qatrân’s lexicon (5th century AH) to recent years and an example such as “Great Sokhan Dictionary” (published in 1381). This history and tradition is an ancient and fruitful achievement, and in this essay, we provide a brief report of this great and continuous historical effort with a review of the most famous and well-known examples of Persian dictionaries written by Azerbaijanis with a critical eye.
Discussion and review
In the first Hijri centuries, when the Persian language flourished little by little, lexicographers, along with poets and writers, helped to preserve and expand the Persian language, and the very existence of two dictionaries in the Pahlavi language shows that the tradition of lexicography existed from the Sassanid period and in the Islamic period has become a Persian lexicography culture. According to Ibn Nadim in his book Al-Fehrest, one of the most ancient lexicons is that of Abu ʿIsâ ibn Ali ibn ʿIsâ Ibn Dâvud al-Harâj, who lived in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries of Hijri (Ibn Nadim, 186, Debir Siyâqi, 7). After that, we should mention the treatise of Abu Hafs, which remained until the Safavid period and was used by the lexicographers of that period. In some manuscripts of Kašf al-Zonun, a lexicon book Taj al-Masâder is attributed to Rudaki. A same treatise has been also attributed to Abu al-Fazl Mohammad Hoseyn ibn Hoseyn Bayhaqi (386-470 A.H.), the famous historian and the secretary of the Divân-e Resâlat (office of correspondence) in the court of the Qaznavids and the author of Beyhaqi’s history. If the attribution of Bayhaqi’s treatise is certain, this treatise cannot be considered a dictionary.
Dictionary, in the strict sense of the word was written for the first time in Azerbaijan, and that is the dictionary attributed to Qatrân and the dictionary of Asdi Tusi. If the manuscript of Madraseye Âliye Sepahsâlâr is correct, Qatrân’s dictionary should be considered the oldest dictionary of the Persian language. Asadi’s dictionary or Loqat-e fors is one of the first dictionaries compiled in Persian language in Azerbaijan. After Loqat-e fors, we should mention Sahâh al-Fors, which was also written by an Azerbaijani.
After Sahâh al-Fors, in terms of Azerbaijan’s contribution to the Persian lexicography, we should mention the very famous dictionary Borhân-e Qâteʾ. This dictionary, although written in India, its author, Mohammad Hoseyn ibn Xalaf Tabrizi, is from Azerbaijan, and it should be considered as one of the dictionaries that originated from this land. He mentions four books as the sources of his work: Jahangiri’s dictionary, Soruri’s Majmaʾ al-Fors, Sormeye Soleymâni and Sahâh al-Adviyye of Hoseyn Ansâri. Borhân-e Qâteʾ has been the important source of the compiled dictionaries in the years after the authoring of that book, including Anjoman-ârâye Nâseri, Ânenderâj, Nafisi, as well as Persian to Latin Vulleres dictionary, Johnson’s Persian and Arabic to English, Steingass’ Persian to English and Persian to Turkish dictionary of Ziyâ.
Another dictionary that deserves to be mentioned here in terms of historical order is Abbâsi dictionary written by Naʾeb al-Sadr Sadr al-Din Mohammad Tabrizi, the son of Mohammad Rezâ, nicknamed Šafâ. Nobahâr dictionary, written by Mohammad Ali Tabrizi is another Azerbaijani dictionary that we should mention here.
Another dictionary written by an Azerbaijani is the Shahnameh dictionary written by Dr. Sâdeq Rezâzâde Šafaq. As its name suggests, this dictionary has explained and interpreted the words of Shahnameh. Dehxoda dictionary is the largest Persian dictionary written in Persian language, and some of its authors are Azerbaijani writers. In the meantime, the contribution of Ahmadi Givi is more than all the Azerbaijani authors, as 1585 pages of the dictionary are written by him. Farhang- Moâser (Contemporary Dictionary) including slang words and combinations and new and common words in the works of contemporary Persian writers authored by Rezâ Anzabinežâd and Mansur Sarvat is another dictionary that was introduced to the field of literature by two Azerbaijanis and was published in 1366 by Amir Kabir Publications.
One of the latest dictionaries written by an Azerbaijani is a two-volume Persian dictionary, the fourth edition of which was published in 2008 (1388 A.H.). Its major author is Qolâm Hoseyn Sadri Afšâr and he has done this work with the cooperation of Nastaran and Nasrin Hakami. This dictionary is the most methodical dictionary that an Azerbaijani has presented to the Persian language. The last dictionary that was written by an Azerbaijani is Farhang-e Bozorg-e Soxan, which was compiled by the writer of these lines, Hasan Anvari. This dictionary has been published in eight volumes containing more than 75,000 main entries and about 30,000 secondary entries in 1381 by Soxan Publishing House.
Keywords: Azerbaijan, Persian language, lexicography, dictionary.
References
Ibn Nadim, Mohammad ibn eshâq, (1378), Ketâb al-fehrest, ed. Ed. R. Tajaddod, Tehran: Asâtir.
Asadi Tusi, (1366), Loqat-e fors, ed. M. Dabir-Siyâqi, Tehran: Eqbâl.
Asadi Tusi, (1365), Loqat-e Fors, ed. F. Mojtabâyi & A. A. Sâdeqi, Tehran.
[1] Hasan Anvari: Permenent member of the Academy Persian Language and Literature.
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