A Sanskrit English Dictionary 2005 Deluxe Edition: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages,

by Monier Monier-Williams

Sir M.Monier-Williams embarked upon Sanskrit-English Dictionary, with the primary object of exhibiting, by a lucid etymological arrangement, the structure of the Sanskrit language, the very key-stone of the science of Comparative Philology. Though all lexicographers have to rely on the work of their earlier compeers, Sir Williams` work is unique and original in its plan and execution, the utility of which is seen in its repeated reprints. This is not a mere aggregation of words and meanings but the fruit of a colossal industry and experience with the actual treatises in the original language on a number of subjects. All the words are arranged etymologically and philologically with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages. The author refers to several authors and extant works. the work includes well over 1,80,000 words. This invaluable thesaurus serves far too well the needs of researchers and lovers of Sanskrit. There is an elaborate and informative Introduction detailing the inception and progress of this huge task, successfully completed with the collaboration of devoted scholars like Prof. E. Leumann, Prof. C. Cappeller and others.

Genres: Reference, Dictionaries, Language

Hardcover

First published June 17, 1898

About the author

Sir Monier Monier-Williams studied, documented and taught Asian languages in England, and compiled one of the most widely-used Sanskrit-English dictionaries.

Monier-Williams was the son of Colonel Monier Williams, surveyor-general in the Bombay presidency, and was born in Bombay on 12 November 1819. He was educated at University College, Oxford from 1837 and taught Asian languages at the East India Company College from 1844 until 1858, when company rule in India ended after the mutiny.

Monier-Williams was the second occupant of the Boden Chair of Sanskrit at Oxford University, following Horace Hayman Wilson, who had started the University's collection of Sanskrit manuscripts upon taking the Chair in 1831. Indian studies in England were dominated by the demands of government and Christian evangelism, in ways that might be considered unacceptable in an academic environment today. Indeed, Max Müller, the most obvious candidate for the chair, was passed over because his religious views were deemed too liberal. Monier-Williams declared from the outset that the conversion of India to the Christian religion should be one of the aims of orientalist scholarship.


When Monier-Williams founded the University's Indian Institute in 1883, it provided both an academic focus and also a training ground for the Indian Civil Service. The Institute closed on Indian independence in 1947.

Monier-Williams created a Sanskrit-English dictionary that is still in print. It is also now available on CD-ROM and as the basis of the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. He was knighted in 1886, and was made KCIE in 1889, when he adopted his Christian name of Monier as an additional surname. He died at Cannes on 11 April 1899.