1808.] Contributions to Persian Lexicography. 25 



12. oUUI ^ Jm 



13. LS^IdA cj;^ 



Both dictionaries are written by Sirajuddm 'Ali Khan, poetically 

 styled jjjf ifnsii, of Akbarabad. He is the best commentator whom 

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

 the Qacidahs of Klmqani and 'Urfi, and his £j*> to the Gulistan, 

 entitled (^IX-JJoLjU^, are of great value. The Siraj is his largest 

 work and has gained him the titles of ^.J^a^i ^i^u, and tl >*w** oK^yo. 

 It contains the Persian words of the old poets (^h^jaLo ), and many 

 quotations not given in the preceding dictionaries. The words which 

 belong to the <^r^Lk° JU*^*»\ form the c*j|^a cl^., 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 Rashidi. 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 Rashidi, 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 

 /•ILwji. Burhan has — 

 *pu»| ustdm, j*IjU>j| ostam and uilxwjl 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 c^Juyl ostdn. Nor is it in Suriiri and Rashidi ; 

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

 a lUU^Ia. in the form <a>Uu»j| 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 



