Compilation of Nepal Bhasa dictionary at final stage
KIRTIPUR, Apr. 9: Nepal Bhasa Academy is to bring out a new Nepal Bhasa Dictionary with a collection of 30,000 entries.
Works on compilation of the dictionary have reached the final stages and the Academy is collecting suggestions from the Nepal Bhasa linguists and experts whether any words have been left out.
Member secretary of the academy Indra Mali says that although the talk of compiling a new dictionary of the Nepal Bhasa had been in circulation some four or five years ago, it could not take shape and he has shouldered the responsibility.
Another Nepal Bhasa expert Bajra Muni Bajracharya joined him in the compilation of the dictionary six months back. Bajracharya had started the compilation works in the dictionary a year ago.
The entries in the new Nepal Bhasa Dictionary have been made in accordance with the Nesting formula. The Nesting formula requires that once the main word has been included in the corpus, its related words have also to be included sub-entries.
Words related to the Newari tradition, culture, mores and values, besides he words used in day-to-day usage have been included in the new Nepal Bhasa dictionary.
Likewise, phrases, idioms and proverbs related with the indigenous Newar craft and professions have also found place in the dictionary.
At first various words of the Nepal Bhasa were collected by organizing a gathering of the representatives of the Nepal Bhasa organisations and experts and by directly meeting people involved in the traditional Newar craft and professions.
The Academy has expressed the belief that the new Nepal Bhasa Dictionary which is being prepared with the �Bachadhangu Newa Khangwo Dhaku� dictionary compiled by Satya Mohan Joshi would be of higher standard than the Nepal Bhasa dictionaries available till now in terms of the number of entries, the field of collection of words and technical aspects.
The Nepal Bhasa dictionary compiled by Satya Mohan Joshi in the Nepal Sambat Era 1107 or 2044 B.S has about 1,800 entries.
Amar Singh Bada had prepared �Amarkosh�, the first Nepal Bhasa dictionary during the reign of Yakchha Malla.
Although many hand-written manuscripts of the Nepal Bhasa dictionaries written in different periods have been shelved at the National Archives, in the Department of Archeology and at the Asha Safu Kuthi at Nardevi, the names of their compilers are not known.
The dictionary prepared some 200 years ago by the Italian national Gwal Berleadu during the reign of King Prithvi Narayan Shah is the first authorised dictionary of the Nepal Bhasa language.
In this connection, mention should be made of the �Dictionary of Classical Newari� compiled in 1936 by a German national Hans Jogens.
Among the Nepali nationals compiling the Nepal Bhasa dictionaries, the name of Panna Prasad Joshi is prominent. He is the first person who compiled the �Sanchhipta Nepal Bhasa Sabdakosh (A Concise Dictionary of Nepal Bhasa)� in the 1076 Nepal Sambat Era.
Chwasa Pasa organisation compiled the �Dictionary of Classical Newari� in 2000 A.D. It took him 20 years to compile the dictionary. Indra Mali, a member of the New Nepal Bhasa Dictionary Compilation Committee, had also worked in this project.
Mali says that a Japanese national has awarded Rs. 2 million for the New Nepal Bhasa Dictionary prepared with the assistance of the Toyota Foundation. vHe says since the dictionary is not for the general reader but only for use by scholars and researchers, it would be considered sufficient even if five persons used the dictionary in a year.
The Newari-Nepali-English dictionary prepared by the Royal Nepal Academy in 2054 B.S. is perhaps the most-frequently-used of Nepal Bhasa dictionaries.
Dr. Ishwar Baral, Krishnachandra Singh Pradhan, Iswarananda Shresthacharya, Indra Mali and Nirmal Tuladhar were involved in the compilation of this dictionary.
Although the New Nepal Bhasa Dictionary to be prepared by the Nepal Bhasa Academy would be from the Nepal Bhasa to Nepal Bhasa in the initial phase, the academy plans to publish it in the Nepal Bhasa- Nepali and Nepal Bhasa- English format in a gradual manner.