Page:Konkani-English Dictionary (1885).djvu/10

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vi
PREFACE.

their meaning extended, and been used to express analogous abstract ideas; and lastly, that words have been compounded and given in the Dictionary, which did not exist as such before. To the first objection he would answer, that such words cannot be considered purely Canarese or Tulu, since they are to be found in both the Dravidian and Gaurian languages. The second objection may be met by the following considerations; that the reason why some words are not understood by the people themselves, is, not that those words are not Konkani, but that the language embraces so great a variety of dialects, that what is understood by some is not understood by others, and what is spoken in one place is not spoken in another. The Author has not confined himself in his researches to one particular district or to particular classes of men. It is quite true, however, that not all the Konkani words that exist, have been inserted, nor are all those inserted equally good or correct. A selection, perhaps, will have to be made later on. As to the third and fourth objections, it should be remembered that either no equivalent at all, or a Sanskrit or Marathi one, which very few, if any, would have understood, had to be given for such words. The Author may reasonably justify his adoption of these methods on the ground that they seemed to him the only means calculated to raise the tone and enrich the vocabulary of a long neglected language. As regards the compound words more particularly, he would remind his readers that this manner of compounding words is not alien to, but in conformity with the spirit of Konkani. Moreover, all such compounds have been carefully tested and examined with the assistance of different native gentlemen.

As regards the use of the Dictionary, frequent references have been made throughout to the Author's Konkani Grammar, lately published, which it presupposes, and of which indeed it is the proper completion. To show the proper use of a word, the most important part of a Dictionary, a literal second translation