20 Contributions to Persian Lexicography. [No. 1, 



some of Ms etymologies are even from a native point of view unscholar- 

 like. He lias been well taken to task by Agha Ahmad 'All, of Dacca. 

 one of the Persian teachers of the Calcutta Madrasah. His reply is en- 

 titled v\Aj> ±iyo Muayijid i BurJidn, and was printed two years ago at 

 Calcutta. The writer shews a spirit of critical enquiry and scientific 

 truthfulness, which is but rarely met with in native writers. Some of his 

 articles, as *>*$><*», J#. *jW, &°., are well worth reading. An index 

 has lately been added by the author. Future lexicographers will do 

 well to obtain a copy of this book. 



From a perusal of this reply, it appears that of the four hundred 

 words which Ghalib attacked, about thirty are Burhan's own 

 blunders, and sixty others must be called doubtful words, because 

 they are given in the Farhang and Sururi without proof. Se- 

 veral other mistakes have been discovered by the author of the 

 Siraj (vide below) ; but on the whole, the number of mistakes 

 made by Burhan himself is so small, as not to endanger his re- 

 putation of a careful compiler. A few were also corrected by Capt. 

 Roebuck in the foot notes of his printed edition. Ghalib's rejoinder 

 which appeared in 1867 under the title y&&, is a mistake. He 

 tries in vain to shift the ground by discussing extraneous matter, and 

 thinks to defeat his opponent by giving on the last page of his books 

 the seals and facsimiles of several influential men, even Nawabs, living 

 at present at Delhi, who, he says, agree with his statements. The 

 Agha s second rejoinder, entitled Shamsher i teztar, is in the press. 



MSS. of the Burhan are numerous. There exists also a Turkish 

 translation of it. 



11. is*t£j «-&^/ 



This is the first critical dictionary. It stands unsurpassed. The 

 name of the author is Mulla 'Abdurrashid of Tattah ( &£ ) in Sind. 

 Other lexicographers, especially the writer of the Bahar i 'Ajam, call 

 him *^l ***; *¥+ He completed his dictionary in A. D. 1653, or 

 A H. 1064, as shewn by the tarikh (metre Ramal) 



The author is well known as the compiler of the Muntakhab, the 

 most popular Arabic dictionary in India, which in 1635 he had 

 dedicated to Shahjahan. When the Persian Dictionary appeared, the 



