sponding words for check (to hinder), check (to chide), and check (as accounts). No other of the existing English-Bengáli dictionaries, not even the large one of Rám Comal Sen, has been compiled on this essentially useful plan of specifying the several various applications of the same terms. In Part II. too, the phrases are more accurately and minutely, as well as more numerously, given than even in the ponderous quartos of Dr. Carey. Thus, under f. increase, &c." are given the renderings of that word with the seven verbs চাইন, পাওন, করণ, ezia, foga, xj, st, of which Carey gives but the three first, and one (57) which Forster has not, included however in its synonym চাহন, ) It is evident then that FORSTER'S VOCABULARY is rather a dicti onary of select vocables, &c. including idiomatic phrases and specific applications. The compilation has been made with much judgment, taste and discrimination; and as the first European to adventure on the arduous task, to employ a native figure, of crossing the spreading sea of words, Mr. Forster is entitled to no small praise. His acquaintance with the language of Bengal was accurate and extensive, and perfected by a knowledge of its parent Sanskrit. The excellencies of this work are, its. The numerous phrases given in both parts. 2nd. The marking, in Part I, of the distinct meanings of English words, with the corresponding Bengáli terms thereby also distinguished one from the other. 3rd. The general accuracy and variety of interpretation. The defects are, 1st. Its deficiencies, namely the large proportion of words, both English and Bengáli, not to be found in it. 2nd. The confused order in which the English meanings are given in Part II, verbs, nouns, adjectives, &c. following each other without any proper succession whether of etymological dependance or grammatical arrangement: e. g. “, account, sake of, because, cause, for, motive, about, score, spring, that, in order, concerning, vindication"-a mode of stringing words together as unphilosophical in itself as it is tantalizing to the reader, and ill calculated to give him that correct perception of the gradation of idea and shades of meaning belonging to any term, which would essentially facilitate their retention in the memory. This last defect is a serious drawback on the value of the work. One of the prime recommendations of a good dictionary is, that it first determines the radical meaning of words, and then proceeds, in the order of nature, to trace the extension and complication of ideas involved in their successively acquired applications, so as at once to inform the judgment and aid the memory of the learner. 3. A third defect is the large admixture of exotic words, chiefly Hindustani, found in these volumes. To these Forster himself strongly objects, as a serious injury to the purity of the language; terming them "Arabic and Persian pedantisms;" which, he says too, "he has laboured sedulously to avoid," on the ground that the Bengáli is rich enough to be independent of these foreign sources, and has pure terms of its own "to express every idea of the mind, without them." He has therefore apparently given so many of these " foreign pedantisms," either because he found them current, or because he had not sufficiently discriminated those which were such, or in pure deference to others, himself strongly objecting to their employment. So, too, in Part I. he gives a notation of the Bengáli sounds in Roman character, in deference, as he states, to the judgment of others, but directly against his own. The system he follows is an improvement on the barbarous one of Gilchrist; but though an improvement, it is still far from the precision, neatness and consistency of that of Sir Wm. Jones, now rapidly superseding all others, at least all of English origination. It is worthy of remark, that the vigorous mind of Forster had, so many years back, not only decided against the utility of Romanization, of late so warmly advocated, but had also strenuously too, and on such enlightened views, deprecated the continued use of the Persian language in conducting the judicial and revenue business of the country. Forster urgently also recommends some attention to the Sanskrit as essential to a thorough acquaintance with the Bengáli. On all these topics his preface deserves to be read, as containing many judicious and valuable remarks. This work is now out of print, though occasionally to be met with second-hand. The original price is not stated. Fifteen years ago it sold, for indifferent copies, as high as 60 rupees: but now that so many other dictionaries are to be had, of more convenient sizes and fuller in vocables (though most of them very far inferior in accuracy to Forster, and especially more deficient in the exhibition of idioms and phrases), the 2 vols. may be had at the Native bookshops at from 8 to 16 Rs. This first Bengáli vocabulary would form a solid groundwork for a complete dictionary: the plan on which it proceeds, in the EnglishBengáli part especially, of marking the several distinct application of each word explained, by prefixing the English synonyms to the corresponding native terms, is the only one that can be made to answer all the ends of a full and satisfactory lexicon. In this respect not one of the numerous works that have since appeared, has superseded Part I. of Forster's vocabulary, which still retains its value, scarcely if at all diminished, to the student who aims at precision of ideas and accuracy in composition. No. 2. A VOCABULARY, Bengalee and English, by Mohun Persaud Takoor, (at Mohan Prasád Thákur,) assistant Librarian in the College of Fort William, 2nd edition, 1815, at the Times press. 1 vol. thin octavo, pp. 180. This volume is strictly a vocabulary in the usual form, exhibiting under successive heads as "of God,"-" of the universe"-" of parts of the body,"-" diseases,"- -" birds"-" beasts," &c. a tolerable number of the ordinary terms in use in each division of knowledge, including verbs, &c. these are given, in three columns :— 1st. The Bengáli word in native character. 2nd. The same in Roman character. 3rd. The corresponding English term. The system of Romanizing appears to resemble that of Forster, especially in the use of o for the inherent ; but no table of corresponding sounds being prefixed, the European scholar has no means of determining the proper pronunciation. Only one English term is usually given with each Bengáli one, and that, as in the case of adjectives, verbs, &c., not always the most judiciously selected. The words given too, are sometimes Arabic, &c. rather than Bengáli, an error which was the more to be eschewed in a compilation intended to exhibit usually but a single rendering. Under the head of Materia Medica, is assembled a singular assortment of terms in botany, mineralogy, horticulture, &c. Still, however, to those who are partial to this plan of acquiring the words of a new language, Mohan Prasad's vocabulary may be of considerable use. The compiler deserves credit for his diligence; but he would have done well had he submitted his collection to a thorough examination by a competent European scholar. The original price was 4 Rs. The 2nd edition on bad native paper, is now only occasionally to be met with in the China Bazar, at about 2 Rs a copy. No. 3 A DICTIONARY of the Bengalee language, in which the words are traced to their origin and their various meanings given, by W. Carey, D. D. Prefessor of the Sunskrita and Bengalee languages in the College of Fort William : 2nd edition, with corrections and additions Serampore Mission Press, 1818, 2 vols 4to. The first edition of this work included, we believe, only the vowels; the second, enlarged and corrected in that portion, with the entire remainder, was published at intervals between the years 1818 and 1824, in 24 parts, forming together two ponderous but unequal quarto volumes, containing 2160 pages; the 1st contains the vowels, in 616 pages in double columns; the 2nd the consonants, extending over not fewer than 1544. Each column averaging 19 words, the total exhibits about 80,000 for the two volumes; a vast accumulation certainly, requiring no ordinary enterprize and diligence in him who undertook, amidst many other learned and useful labours, to make it. From this aggregate, however, must in fairness be deducted fully one-fifth, for mere repetitions of no small proportion of the entire vocables of the language; which, having been already explained in due alphabetical order, are a second and a third time most unnecessarily given in composition with the words this and that, 3 and 93: e. g. the word, wealth, under which in its own place in alphabetic order, are given as many as 190 derivatives and compounds, is again given in 68 of those under 3 this, and a third time in 61 of them under that; in all 129 of the 190 compounds, &c have been uselessly repeated! By such preposterous repetitions has the bulk of these volumes been actually increased one-fifth. Still further, however, has it been augmented by two other remarkable peculiarities. 1st. The laborious compiler proposed to give the Sanskrit or other derivations of words. 2ndly. He proposed to insert the current compounds, as well as the derivatives, of the language. But not satisfied, in regard to these latter, with giving those in which either some change or modification of idea is found in one or both members of the compound,VII. 2 Q -- as in 2, (from 27, wealth, and 1, an overseer,) i. e. a treasurer, &c. or whose compound meaning is not immediately apparent, as in 5, (from 7, wealth, and л, wine,) the wine of wealth, the intoxication of wealth, the pride of wealth, or which are strictly derivatives produced by a mere change of termination, as and a wealthy, happy, a wealthiness, &c. : not only are these and similar given, but every word also that was ever known at any time to have entered into rhetorical composition with 27, and each too with its own train of derivatives, and each with a distinct repetition of the very same common derivation !! e. g. “7, s. (from 7, to produce a crop,) wealth, prosperity, riches, &c.'" Following this, you have "f3, s. (from 87, wealth, and 3, loss,) the loss of prosperity, &c." qaæfsææ, a. (from fs, loss of wealth, and , causing,) causing a loss of wealth, &c. ; বনক্ষতিকারী, a. (from বনক্ষতি, loss of wealth, and কারিন, causing ) causing a loss of wealth; f, a. (from 8af3, a loss of wealth, and, producible,) producible by or arising from a loss of property, &c. and so on through the whole 190 compounds and derivatives! To all this must be added the 68 repetitions under 3 and the 61 under 3, in which the very same gratuitous labour has been equally expended. There too, you have “3587, s. (from 3, that, and, wealth,) that wealth, his or her wealth; 31, a. (from 38, that wealth, and 3, producible,) producible by or arising from that wealth, producible by or arising from his or her wealth; 8, a. (from 37, that wealth, and 1, to give,) giving that wealth, giving his or her wealth, and so on, usque ad non modo risum sed etiam nauseam. The amount of equally fruitless and wearisome labour required to accomplish all this is incredible—and after all, cui bono? to what useful end? It has been objected too, by competent native authority, to Dr. Carey's dictionary, that many words found therein are either now first formed by him, or are explained in merely derivative or etymological senses, not in the current colloquial applications, of which many instances are cited in the preface to a small work by Táráchánd Chakrabarttí noticed below. Exception has also been taken to very many terms of low and obscene abuse, &c. inserted in these volumes. Many words and meanings of words too are merely transferred from the Sanskrit dictionaries, without sufficient or certain warrant for their provincial usage. Large numbers of exotic vocables are moreover inserted, which, however the mixture of races may have rendered them more or less current in colloquial intercourse or in the courts, ought certainly to have no place in a depository of the pure vernacular language of the province of Bengal. They are both cacophonous and unsightly, anomalous according to the laws of Bengáli spelling and the rules of musical utterance, and, with scarcely one exception in a hundred, altogether unnecessary; since genuine Bengáli terms do already exist to express their purport. The only instances in which such are not at present to be found, are those in which it is requisite to express foreign articles of dress, furniture, &c. These may however be readily, naturally, and most advantageously formed, by the analogies of the language, from its native roots, or as analogically borrowed from the parent Sanskrit stem. Notwithstanding the great bulk of these volumes, there are yet multitudes of words and meanings of words, both in current oral use and read in the best Native authors, which are not to be found therein, and for which recourse must therefore be had to other sources. The really useful contents of this work might easily have been compressed into certainly less than one-half its present bulk, to the great advantage of the student, alike as to his purse, his patience, and his ease. Still, however, he is largely indebted to the patient and laborious compiler for thus bringing together, as into a vast storehouse, these materials of language; little arranged, it must be confessed, or discriminated, and with little regard to quality, usefulness, or exactness. The original price was 5 Rs. each part, or for the 24 parts, 120 Rs. They may now be had new for 30 Co.'s Rs., or second-hand for considerably less. No. 4. A VOCABULARY of the Bengalee language, compiled by Ram Chondro Sorma, (, Rám Chandra Sharma,) Pandit, Calcutta, 1820, 2nd edition, printed for the Calcutta School Book &c. Society. This is a very excellent pocket dictionary for natives, or such Europeans as have made some progress in the language; but being wholly in Bengáli, unaccompanied by any English interpretation, is, of course, unavailable for the use of such as apply themselves for the first to the acquisition of that tongue. It is in the usual square form of English pocket dictionaries, printed in double columns, and in the space of 257 pages, averaging 26 words each, contains about 6,600 of the most current terms employed in polite conversation, or found in those native works most extensively read. The explanations are, for the most part however, limited to one, or occasionally two, of the principal significations of the words, and are consequently far too meagre for an advanced student, though exceedingly useful to learners. The book indeed was principally designed for schools; but would amply repay the European student for the labour of repeated perusals, in the facility he would acquire of explaining Bengáli words to natives, and in the infixing of numerous useful synonyms in his own memory. Singular as it may seem, this is the only native dictionary of the Bengáli language existing*, the only one compiled by a native, of and in his own vernacular tongue, for the use of his countrymen: the greater therefore the merit of the intelligent pandit who has thus led the way in native lexicography, and that with much diligence, judgment and taste. The work is sold, half-bound, at the Calcutta School Book Society's Depository, at the low price of one rupee; a new edition is in preparation, which will, we trust, be much enlarged both as to the amount of terms explained and the extent of explanation given. In one respect particularly, this able pandit deserves special praise; namely, for his careful exclusion of all words of foreign origin from this useful enchiridion. A full and complete Abidhán of the pure indigenous language of the province, would, besides other eminent advantages, N. B. Another on the same plan, No. 15 below, was announced while this Index was preparing. |