imported>MarceloCoode04 at 23:54, 26 May 2025

2025-05-26T23:54:46Z

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{{short description|17th-century Persian dictionary}}
{{Image frame|content=[[File:India, Mughal, early 17th century - An Illuminated Folio from the Royal Manuscript of the Farhang-i Jahangiri ( - 2013.318.a - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|100px]][[File:India, Mughal, early 17th century - An Illuminated Folio from the Royal Manuscript of the Farhang-i Jahangiri ( - 2013.318.b - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg|100px]]|width=200|caption=[[Recto and verso]] of an illuminated folio, from a manuscript of the Farhang-i Jahangiri.}}
The '''Farhang-i Jahangiri''' ({{langx|fa|{{nq|فرهنگ جهانگیری}}|lit=[[Jahangir|Jahangir's]] dictionary}})<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Page from the "Farhang-i Jahangiri"|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714646/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> is a [[Persian language|Persian]] dictionary compiled in the 17th century by Mir Jamal al-din Husayn Inju, and commissioned by [[Mughal Emperor]] [[Akbar]]. It is one of the most important Persian-language dictionaries produced in [[Mughal India]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Page from the "Farhang-i Jahangiri"|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714646/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> and has been termed a "benchmark" in the genre of Persian dictionary-writing.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Casari|first=Mario|title=INDIA xiv. Persian Literature|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/india-xiv-persian-literature-in-india|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref>

== Writing ==
Mir Jamal al-din Husayn Inju hailed from [[Shiraz]] (in present-day [[Iran]]), born into a noble [[Sayyid]] family. He emigrated to Mughal India at an early age, spending the majority of his life in the city of [[Agra]]. He rose to a prominent position in the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, and began writing the dictionary at the ruler's request in the 1590s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Page from the "Farhang-i Jahangiri"|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714646/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Bayevsky|first=Solomon|orig-date=1999|title=FARHANG-E JAHĀNGĪRĪ|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/farhang-e-jahangiri|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref> Inju was advised by Akbar to investigate words and idioms from [[Middle Persian]], to understand the nature of the Persian language before it was influenced by [[Arabic]]; this was a major objective of the dictionary.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Habib|first=Irfan|date=2004|title=ON THE DOORSTEPS OF HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS — A NOTE ON MUGHAL LEXICOGRAPHY|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44144759|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=65|pages=411–415|jstor=44144759 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref> [[Muzaffar Alam]] interprets this as emblematic of a larger trend of Persian linguistic purification attempts in Mughal India.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=Alam|first=Muzaffar|title=2. The Culture and Politics of Persian in Precolonial Hindustan|date=2019-12-31|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/9780520926738-007|work=Literary Cultures in History|pages=174|publisher=University of California Press|doi=10.1525/9780520926738-007 |isbn=9780520926738 |access-date=2021-12-31|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Richard M. Eaton|Richard Eaton]] views the production of this dictionary as part of efforts by Akbar to associate the Mughal court with Persian culture.<ref>{{Citation|last=Eaton|first=Richard|title=The Persian Cosmopolis (900–1900) and the Sanskrit Cosmopolis (400–1400)|date=2018-10-30|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004387287_004|work=The Persianate World|pages=78|publisher=BRILL|doi=10.1163/9789004387287_004 |isbn=9789004387287 |access-date=2022-02-12|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The dictionary was completed after twelve years in 1608, by which time Akbar had died and been succeeded by his son [[Jahangir]]; Inju hence named the dictionary in honor of him. In 1622, Inju authored a second edition of the dictionary.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Page from the "Farhang-i Jahangiri"|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2019714646/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Bayevsky|first=Solomon|orig-date=1999|title=FARHANG-E JAHĀNGĪRĪ|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/farhang-e-jahangiri|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref> The Farhang-i Jahangiri was considered a standard dictionary of Persian in the early 17th century.<ref name=":2" /> It was highly influential on subsequent dictionaries such as ''[[Farhang-i Rashidi]]'' and ''[[Burhan-i Qati]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2018-09-10|editor-last=Sedighi|editor-first=Anousha|editor2-last=Shabani-Jadidi|editor2-first=Pouneh|title=The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198736745.001.0001|journal=Oxford Handbooks Online|pages=2168|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198736745.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-873674-5 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> It also inspired the contemporary Iranian poet and lexicographer [[Soruri Kashani]] to write a second edition of his dictionary ''[[Farhang-e Soruri]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bayevsky|first=Solomon|orig-date=1999|title=FARHANG-E SORŪRĪ|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/farhang-e-soruri|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref>

== Content ==
The Farhang-i Jahangiri lists 9,830 words, arranged in alphabetical order.<ref name=":1" /> The ordering is unconventional in that it is alphabetised by second letter of the word, then first letter.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Dudney |first=Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJtlEAAAQBAJ&dq=Farhang-i+Rashidi&pg=PA149 |title=India in the Persian World of Letters: Ḳhān-I Ārzū Among the Eighteenth-Century Philologists |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-285741-5 |pages=148 |language=en}}</ref> These words were taken from the works of an extensive number of Persian poets. Each entry provides a definition as well as poetic verses where the word was used. The dictionary used at least 44 Persian dictionaries as sources, as well as Persian technical treatises and oral sources.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Bayevsky|first=Solomon|orig-date=1999|title=FARHANG-E JAHĀNGĪRĪ|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/farhang-e-jahangiri|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref>

The dictionary contains an introduction, which includes a discussion of the sources and a detailed study of the Persian language. The dictionary's supplement includes five glossaries.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Bayevsky|first=Solomon|orig-date=1999|title=FARHANG-E JAHĀNGĪRĪ|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/farhang-e-jahangiri|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Persian dictionaries]]
[[Category:Mughal literature]]
[[Category:17th-century Indian books]]
[[Category:17th-century Persian books]]

Farhang-i Jahangiri - Revision history

imported>MarceloCoode04 at 23:54, 26 May 2025