What is a dictionary?

PALANA (nparinand@cas.org)
Sat, 18 May 1996 21:26:00 -0400

"dESamainA cUDu, kOSamainA cUDu. This is a Kannda proverb.
"Esha AdESaha. Esha samdESaha"
One who circles the entire country and visits a dictionary,
is a wise man. That is a widely said saying among literates.
If one wants to understand, digest, and incorporate the essence
of the literary realm, a dictionary is like a heart. Refereing
to a dictionary elevates the intellect. Even for a genius who
has all the meanings at his finger tips and at the tip of his
tongue, his day will not end unless he flips the pages of a
dictionary. The BAva (meaning) of a word is the root for the
expression of a thought in human language. The actual use of
any dictionary is to explain the shapes and meanings of these
words in a well-established style based on a scientific
methodology.

Even the publishers of the Suryandhra Nighamtuvu, the Telugu
University, say "telugunATa vyavahAramlO unna vElAdi padAlu
imdulO cEralEdu. dIni racanA praNAlikapai, svIkarimcina
padajAlampai, vyAkarimcina vidhAnAlapai, roopimcina ardha
vivaraNalapai giDugu vEmkaTa rAmamUrty pamtulugAru anEka
lOpAlanu etti cUpimcina mATa jagamerigina caritra."

AhA! Do we know the meanings for at least 40% of the words
in Nannaya Bharatam or Kalidasa Meghasamdesam? If so, why
several of us run to the shelves? Nannayya's Telugu is well
propagated and well preserved. We know all those words.
We don't need the dictionaries to read those verses. Even
my Telugu pandits who only read and wrote that type of style
had to refer to Nighamtuvus.

I do agree for the brightest suggestion that let the writers
of the mAmDalIkAs preserve that mAmDalIkam in their language.
How many of those writers even for the words they know the
meanings give foot notes with meanings. Can any one show
such type of foot notes for Ganesh Patro's writings or
for Kalipatnam's writings? Yes! They preserved. What good
is that to me. Where do I look for if I have a problem.
Should I look for Aru sIsAla kadhalu or for koDuku puTTAli or
for AgamDI komcem AlOcimcamDi or for pAvalA or for Balivada
Kantarao's stories or for himsa or for SAmti or for jIvadhAra
or for kuTra.

What can I say? People laugh if they hear that we don't need
dictionaries and let the writings alone serve the role of the
dictionaries.

The very first thing they did to rejuvinate Hebrew was rebuilding
the entire dictionary of Hebrew. They succeeded. They also
did the same thing for yiddish. That is their love towards
their language. Let us learn a lesson from their acts.

No more to say on this from my side.
I said enough.
I wait for others to speak on this.

regards
pAlana