[INDOLOGY] M-W Sanskrit-English Dictionary Co-Authors

[Roland Steiner]

> < Apte's Dictionary (which is truly independent) will yield a  
> maximum of reliable results. >

> Just a note. Apte depended on the Vaacaspatyam by Taranath  
> Tarkavaacaspati (1811-1885)


Fortunately, Apte's very useful dictionary has sources indeed. One of  
its many sources is Tārānātha Tarkavācaspati's Vācaspatya. In Apte's  
own words:

"I have derived from different sources. And in doing so I must give  
the first place to the great Sanskrit encyclopædia, the Vāchaspati of  
Professor Tārānātha Tarkavāchaspati. I have constantly kept it by my  
side and have freely availed myself of the information contained in it  
-- of course with large curtailments -- though I have had to  
supplement it myself wherever it was found to be defective or  
insufficient. [...] The Sanskrit-English Dictionary of Professor  
Monier Williams is the next work to which I have been greatly  
indebted. It has been a constant source of help to me, and I have  
frequently adopted his renderings of words, compound expressions &c.,  
where I found them better than those I myself had to suggest. And  
though there is a good deal in this Dictionary that is not to be found  
in that work, and though the plan and scope of the two are essentially  
different, yet I must gratefully acknowledge the great assistance I  
have often derived from the learned Professor's invaluable Dictionary.  
The last work to which also my grateful acknowledgments are due is the  
German Worterbuch of Drs. Roth and Bothlingk (sic.). The chief  
distinguishing feature of that great work is that it abounds with  
quotations and references dealing with almost every branch of Sanskrit  
literature, but a careful reader will easily see that the works  
belonging to Vedic literature, such as the four Vedas, Upaniṣads,  
Brāhmaṇas, Āraṇyakas &c., have been comparatively more copiously drawn  
upon by the authors than works belonging to the post-Vedic literature.  
A glance at the contents of this Dictionary will show that I have  
drawn upon works seldom or not at all referred to in the Worterbuch;  
such as the Mahāvīracharita, Mālatī-Mādhava, Uttararāmacharita,  
Kādambarī, Śiśupālavadha, Kirātārjunīya, Mudrārākṣasa, Veṇīsaṁhāra,  
Ratnāvalī, Kāvyaprakāśa, Śāṅkarabhāṣya, Bhāminīvilāsa,  
Vikramāṅkadevacharita, Gaṅgālahari &c. Indeed, the great majority of  
quotations and references are from my own collection made during the  
last seven or eight years; and I have even been obliged to keep back a  
large mumber of them for want of space. But I must frankly acknowledge  
that I have freely availed myself of the quotations and references in  
that Dictionary, where my own collection was defective, particularly  
in the case of Vedic and Paurāṇic works. I have also occasionally  
consulted the Dictionaries of H. H. Wilson and Benfey, the former  
supplying some happy renderings of technical or obscure words. To  
these authors, as well as to the authors and editors of several  
otherworks, which are too many to be here mentioned, from which I have  
derived occasional help in one form or another, my most grateful  
thanks are due."

In short: a truly independent dictionary.

Best
Roland Steiner