A Sanskrit-English Dictionary [Hardcover]

Sir Monier Monier-Williams (Author), Professor E. Leuman (Contributor), Professor C. Cappeller and other scholars (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 019864308X | ISBN-13: 978-0198643081 | Publication Date: December 31, 1920 | Edition: Revised

New edition greatly enlarged and improved with the collaboration of: Leuman, E.; Unknown function: Cappeller, C.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1369 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Revised edition (December 31, 1920)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019864308X
• ISBN-13: 978-0198643081
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 7.5 x 3.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,634,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Sanskrit

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ONLY definitive sanskrit-english dictionary-, May 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Hardcover)

Originally published in 1899, it remains the only comprehensive Sanskrit-English dictionary, comprising 160,000 words. This is the edition published by Oxford in England, and is much clearer print and well worth it if you can't do fine print where the Devanagari script is often ink-smudged(the Indian Edition). However, if your reading vision is good, the Indian edition is exactly the same content and cheaper($48-65), but poorer quality binding as well. I recommend buying it from the Vedanta Press or South Asia books, who also have a website with online ordering. SUPPORT INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensible for Sanskrit Scholars, October 14, 2000

By 

Walter O. Koenig "Amoxtli" (San Diego, California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Hardcover)

I agree with the previous two reviewers. There is no need to search further. This is the definitive Sanskrit-English Dictionary to get. Not only are, as the previous reviewer wrote 160,000 terms defined, but there is also a reliable "List of Works and Authors", which I have found to be quite useful. Preface and Introduction are still quite readable after 100 years. This is truly an amazing feat of scholarship. My copy (Oxford Univ. Press - Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, India, 1993 reprint) has held together remakably well, thanks to careful usage and application of Elmer's Glue to the Binding (Thanks Jerry at South Asia Books). However, the paper is beginning to yellow badly and it is showing signs of becoming brittle. If you will be using this Dictionary frequently, in the long run, there is no savings in buying the Indian Edition. Therefore, my next purchase will definetely be the English Edition. - It's really worth it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best In Show 100 years and counting, December 3, 2004

By 

Jon Torodash (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Hardcover)

As another reviewer put it, this is quite simply the only definitive Sanskrit-English dictionary. The monumental feat of scholarship required to compile this resource is staggering to imagine. It has completely answered every query for which I have consulted it and deserves 5 stars for this fact alone.

Nonetheless, it delivers in several other ways. The organization, which admittedly takes some getting used to due to such counterintuitives as the dual alphabetical ordering of the anusvara, turns out to be an extremely effective way of improving vocabulary because it groups several derivatives and compounds under their basic roots. Connections to other Indo-European cognates has the side effect of creating a work that is a valuable linguistic reference outside of ancient Indian studies.

It is extremely comprehensive in certain entries, perhaps indeed encyclopaedaic as another reviewer mentioned, but this has its benefits. Sometimes readers need more background information on deceptively complex terms than provided in a particular piece of literature where the word is found, because the author assumes that his readers already possess this knowledge.

As to the end product of the mammoth undertaking that this must have been for Monier-Williams, I have no complaints. This is what I expect of any "final authority" reference.