1SCS.] Contributions to Persian Lexicography. 25 



12. oUJU) ^\ JMt 



13. oj)^» cj^a. 



Both dictionaries are written by Sirajuddin 'AH Khan, poetically- 

 styled }jj\ .Arzii, of Akbarabad. He is the best commentator whom 

 India has produced. His commentaries to Nizami's Sikandarnamah, 

 the Qacidahs of KMqani and 'Urfi, and his r/« to the Gulistan, 

 entitled ciU-di^U-};^, are of great value. The Siraj is his largest 

 work and has gained him the titles of ( j-vaasr*-'| ~\y* and w .AaJ'<vo (j^y5_ 

 It contains the Persian words of the old poets (^A/oiiLo ) ; anc i many 

 quotations not given in the preceding dictionaries. The words which 

 belong to the gjj^lLc JU*iw! form the oo|^& pjj-^-, or as it is often 

 called, the second part of the Siraj. 



The chief importance of the Siraj lies in this, that it is a commentary 

 on the Burhan and Bashidi. Rashidi is occasionally, though not 

 always convincingly, checked, when he doubts the correctness of a 

 quotation, whilst the critical remarks on the Burhan are so numerous, 

 that the Burhan should never have been printed without the notes 

 of the Siraj. There are also a few words which Bashidi, notwith- 

 standing his great carefulness, has overlooked and for the criticism of 

 which the Siraj is the more valuable. I take as an example the word 

 l»ULej|. Burhan has — 

 /»IXw| ustdm, A±*»j\ ostdm and ejlJUujI ostdn. 



1. The harness of a horse. 



2. A man whom you can trust, 



3. The threshold of a house. 



Vullers gives the same on p. 142a. of the first volume of his 

 Lexicon. The FJ. gives likewise the three meanings with examples, 

 but he has not the form oli-wjl ostdn. Nor is it in Sururi and Bashidi ; 

 who besides have only the first two meanings. We see therefore 

 a d^l-J^l^- in the form i^tU-wjl and the third meaning. The example 

 which the FJ. quotes for the meaning a threshold is taken from Nacir 

 Khusrau (metre Muszari') 



" If a man owes his very carpet and his threshold, his house is the 

 emptiest in the whole world." 



We see at once that this verse proves nothing ; for the first meaning 

 4 



