14 Contributions to Persian Lexicography. [No. 1, 



and Pazand words form a peculiar feature. They are interesting 

 both for the Zand scholar and the historian of Akbar's reign. The 

 principles of toleration which no king before Akbar had dared openly 

 to confess, had even laid hold of the philologic mind of the king's 

 subjects, and for the first time did the words of the worshippers 

 of "the fire which Muhammad extinguished," find a place in a 

 dictionary, the compiler of which was moreover a Sayyid of the 

 purest blood. Merely to flatter Akbar who, though a Sufi in his heart, 

 was a Parsee by his rites, could not have been the compiler's sole 

 object. Curiosity had caused some of Akbar's courtiers to leam 

 Sanscrit, and the same curiosity taught a philologist to look upon the 

 words of another sect of infidels as things worth knowing and 

 registering. This is proved by the spontaneous remark made by 

 the compiler under jif — 



o^s^ o.v*jj ,.o*/o ^_IIS [S.mj\ t>JJ' j\ i^»j* j<$ j <i^ u^i cj^s.) £»sp: -1+3 



&jj o fjj? %\gj& j\ j *CU»I LSi&tyj u/f jij& 31 t&& d& oijb j ±'ij j\ 



11 1 knew an old Persian, a Zoroastrian, who possessed some parts of 

 " the Zandavesta. As I have a passion for collecting Persian words, 

 " and as no book enjoys a greater authority for Persian than the 

 " Zandavesta, I often met him for the purpose of investigating some 

 " words ; and indeed most of the Zand words which the Khatimah of 

 " my dictionary contains, have been extracted by this Zoroastrian from 

 " the Zendavesta. Whenever he came across the word jif in reading 

 " to me from his holy book, he pronounced it ddur, not ddzar, &g. 



In another place of his dictionary the compiler mentions a Zoro- 

 astrian of the name of Ardsher. Perhaps it is the same. Akbar had 

 expressly sent for him from Kirman, as will be seen from the 

 following extract — 



ojUj ^^. ^j^ j& &Z Ls^J^y ^^ n*"' ZJ'*' * * * * f^ifi 



j\ a^l^j-'s ij»i\y. j\ U^ii-v* LJM jS i»)li.) (j-^sr* <«^fS- u^ 3 ^ t5^"*f<j«r* 



