The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Marathon effort pays off

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Marathon effort pays off

By J.S. Ifthekhar

Mujtahedi, who worked on a special edition of Urdu-English dictionary. Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

HYDERABAD, MARCH 29. When you work all through the night, you have your day. This can be said about Yakoob Miran Mujtahedi, whose efforts to compile the most comprehensive ever Urdu-English dictionary, have finally paid off. His labour of love is going to see the light of the day soon.

The 2,812-page dictionary, contained in a CD, will be handed over to the publisher, Syed Abdul Khader Jeelani, by Prince Muffakham Jah Bahadur, at a function here on Wednesday. The three-volume lexicon is expected to hit the market in next two months.

In the making for the last 25 years, Mujtahedi's magnum opus has seen not just money and sweat but a protracted legal battle. But all that is behind him now. "This is the happiest moment of my life," says the 74-year-old lexicographer who had once given up hopes of his efforts fructifying.

Wide range

An Urdu translator in the State Translation Department, Mr. Mujtahedi felt the need for an up to date dictionary when he found the existing lexicons inadequate. However, his efforts in compiling the dictionary gained momentum after he retired in 1989. Dictionaries are dime a dozen. What is unique about this one? It is its encyclopaedic range. It contains the largest number of phrases, idioms, technical, medical and scientific terms. Close to 90,000 entries to be precise.

This new millennium dictionary will not merely address the needs of Urdu- speaking people, it will also come handy for translators, scholars, teachers and students. Once the dictionary is published, Mr. Mujtahedi plans to bring out an abridged version of it running to about 1,200 pages. For the computer-savvy persons, the dictionary will be soon available on the Net. All they have to do is to login in http:// dsal.uchicago.edu/ dictionaries.

What next? Mr. Mujtahedi is already working on an English-Urdu dictionary. He is trying to update Dr. Abdul Haq's Standard English-Urdu lexicon. "This will be ready in just two years," he says.

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