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The
history of the Assamese dictionary
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The first Assamese dictionary was written by
Dr. Miles Bronson, an American Baptist Missionary.
His Dictionary published in 1867 at American Baptist
Mission Press Sibsagar, is out of print now. Bronson’s
work did not pretend to be an etymological dictionary
but contained a very considerable collection of words
culled from the lips of the people but without derivations.
Hemchandra
Baruah, who was a pioneer author of Modern Assamese
literature, compiled his magnum opus the
‘Hem kohsa’ an etymological dictionary
of the Assamese language and it was published in 1900
A.D. under the supervision of Capt. P. R. Gordon, ISC and Hemchandra Goswami
after 33 years
of the publication
of the Bronson’s
dictionary. It contained about 22,346 words.
The
third Assamese Dictionary “Chandrakanta Abhidhan” a
comprehensive dictionary of the Assamese language with
etymology and with their meanings
in Assamese and English, originally compiled and
published by “Assam Sahitya Sabha” in 1933 i.e after 32 years of the Publication of the “Hem
Kosha”. The dictionary contains 36,816 words in all.
A third edition of this dictionary was also published
by the University
of Guwahati in 1987 duly edited by Dr. Maheswar
Neog and Dr. Upendranath Goswami. Another Assamese dictionary under the caption “
Adhunik Asamiya Abhidhan” has been published
by Assam Prakasan Parishad in 1977 under the editorship
of Dr. Maheswar Neog, Rajanikanta Deva Sarma and Nava
Kanta Baruah.
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