Punjabi is the spoken language of a very large population in India and Pakistan. In India, the script used for Punjabi is Gurmukhi, while in Pakistan it is written in Persian script. There are millions of people settled all over the world who speak Punjabi but may not know either of the scripts.
This dictionary is compiled for those who find it more convenient to read and write Punjabi in Roman script. It will be equally helpful to foreigners who are doing studies on Punjabi, but are not acquainted with Gurmukhi or Persian scripts to read the Punjabi language.
This book has been issued primarily to meet the need of those Europeans who use Punjabi in their intercourse with the people of the country, and secondarily to enable Punjabis, schoolboys and others, to ascertain the meanings of the commoner English words which they daily come across. No English-Punjabi dictionary at present exists. It did not, however, seem desirable to com) was an exhaustive dictionary; that would have been both bulky and expensive. What appeared to be required was a volume, which, while containing a large selection of words likely to be useful, would be small enough to be easily handled, and cheap enough to be within the reach of all. The price has been increased by the war, but it has been kept as low as possible, and no attempt has been made to do more than cover expenses.
The number of English words translated is about 5800, s number sufficiently large for most purposes. The idea of this work was suggested by Col. P. C. Phillott’s excellent “English Hindustani Vocabulary.”
Punjabi may be divided into two main dialects, the northern or western, and southern or eastern. The former is spoken west and north of Amritaar and is used throughout in this Vocabulary. It is commonly called northern Punjabi to distinguish it from the southern dialect.
Special Feattns :—(i) As most of those who use this book will possess the “ Punjabi Manual and Grammar” written some years ago by Dr. T. F. Cummings and myself, I have made frequent references to it. In this way it has been possible to refer the student to fuller explanations of words and phrases. (ii) Nouns the gender of every noun is given. It is indicated in most cases by m. or f., but when the infinitive or the sign of the genitive (da) is given along with a noun the letters m. and f. are omitted. The endings of the infin. a. -i, -e, -ia or the variations of the genitive sign da, dr, de, dia show the gender. When both m. and f. are used the word may be either masc. or fern., the commoner gender being given first. The addition of “p1.” means that the word is nearly always plural. In Appendix I several pages have been added containing notes on the grammatical portion of the “Punjabis Manual including a complete conjugation of the verb with it pronominal suffixes.
(iii) Verbs: Both trans. and intr. forms are frequently given the latter often correspond to the English passive. Occasionally the causal is added. Irregular past participles are generally mentioned. With one or two exceptions intensive compound verbs (such as muka & chaddna, wekh larna) have not been used in the Vocabulary. There are not more than one or two verbs of which it can he asserted that the compound form is always necessary. Another reason is that in most cases several different compound forms are possible; and finally Europeans when they learn a compound form generally employ it to excess. See Compound Verbs, p. 150. See also (iv). (iv) Construction: A special effort has been made to show the construction of verbs, what prepositions they use, and how the object is expressed. This is a matter of importance as foreigners are often in difficulties about these points, it should be noted that when there is no indication of how to the object, it is usually the direct accusative with nü, or it may be without nu, in which case it is the same as the nominative. (v) Idioms: Special pains have been taken to include as many idioms as possible. They will be found throughout the 4 vocabulary. (vi) Cross references: By means of these much space has been saved. The student should always look up the references even though the connection may not be obvious. A great deal of additional information will in this way be obtained. (vii) It often happens that words used by Hindus are not used by Muhammadans and vice versa. Hindu and Muhammadan words have been distinguished. Christians employ the one or the other according to the majority of the people by whom they are surrounded. There are also specifically Christian words, which will be found in their proper places. See also the letters K. and U. in the list of abbreviations. (viii) Word jingle: This is so usual a feature of Punjabi speech that it has been thought advisable to include the cornpones examples: such are kuna saihna, speak: goha gatta, crowding. (ix) At the end of Appendix I are notes on the agreement of adjectives, the uses of calna the and painad, the formation of the past part. and causal verbs, on verbal roots in g and kh a few hint, on common mistakes. (x) In Appendix II are additions to the Vocabulary. (xi) Special lists: Names of birds are given under “bird” in the Vocabulary; names of stars under” stars” in Appendix 11; weights and measures under “Weights and Measures” in Appendix 11. Spelling.—The chief difficulties in spelling are due to the existence of different pronunciations and, in the case of words common to Urdu and Punjabi, to doubt as to how far remove from literary Urdu the normal pronunciation of a word is. Some educated speakers, not realizing that Punjabi is a language distinct from Urdu, endeavour to assimilate words to their Urdu forms, and thus spoil the pronunciation. The best rule is to follow the pronunciation of those who have a little, but not too much, education. Lest anyone should think that some of the forms in this book are vulgar it may be men toned that the proofs have been shown to three educated Indian gentlemen whose names are given at the end of this introduction. Two are Hindus and one a Muhammadan. The Muhammedan is a graduate of the Punjab University and a teacher of Punjabi. Of the Hindus one has, for many years, been a school-teacher and has wide experience of teaching Punjabi; the other has taught in school for some years and this year is going up for his B.A. It is not likely that these gentlemen would pass vulgar forms. They did not try to Urdus the spelling, on the contrary in some cases they suggested that my spelling too closely resembled Urdu and advised a change.
An unaccented vowel in Punjabi always tends to become the short neutral vowel heard in the first syllable of the English words “along", “announce”, “America”, hence milkiyat, sktksyat, etc. generally become market, shakait and so on. Frequently this neutral vowel is omitted as in zindgi, badge where we might anticipate zindagi, Bandai,
Further difficulties arise in connection with the length of vowels, the doubling of consonants at the end of accented syllables (e.g. gloating or gratin, Punjabi or Punjabi), the omission or insertion of y (dhyan or dhian) and in a number of other cases. It should also be borne in mind that words with the low tone may often be written in at least two ways without affecting the pronunciation. Thus it is immaterial whether we white dhigane or tightness’ uselessly: kantar or gander’s on one's shoulders culhani or jhulani, village kitchen: panjhal or bhanjal, partner: again hanger, nhera and anhera are pronounced practically alike. The high tone is not constant and dopends partly upon the accent. Thus the word for sahibs is pronounced show, when the accent falls upon it, but when in a compound word it follows the syllable with the accent, it is simply sab, as lat sab, Miss Sab mem Sab. In such cases it is not eortain which is the better way to write the word. Occasionally a word is here spelt in two different ways. It will be found that both may be defended. See also next heading.
Pswvncutioh.—Differences of pronunciation are due to (i) individual idiosyncrasy: (ii) difference of degree of education: (iii) difference of district. In a few words l or l and n or,’n are both correct. The commonest are— City dwellers are often unable to distinguish between l and l. Exnantzon or Contractions.—A list of abbreviations is given after the table of contents. Further points are now mentioned: (i) When a word has occurred as a beading, it is referred to within the limits of bat one entry by its first letter: e.g. “acquit, chadana, bari k: be a. etc.;” here “be a.” means be acquitted.” (ii) There is a difference between “or” and a comma: thus tore liana or urinal would mean that one may say zore laina or zore uqahra. but not “zore laina, ugrahna” means either urethra means either ugrahna or zore larna, but not zore uqrahna. The very few oases where to save space’ this rule has been departed from will not cause confusion. (iii) A hyphen has sometimes been employed with k and A. This is to show that the, whole is regarded as one verb: e.g. natthi-k means that natthi karna is all one verb, and one might have natthi kita or natthi kite or natthi kitra according to the gender of the word with which the past part. agrees, But when we have pakki karni or jhr karni the past part. Must remain fern. And we should have honey pakki kiti or jhi krti (not kita). Students must be prepared to find in use words, genders and constructions differing from those in this work. Only in a few words will difference be observable as regards gender. It is due sometimes to local variations but not infrequently to mistakes on the part of men who have learnt Urdu and use Urdu genders. Certain words common in one district are rare in another, or if used, assume a different form. Only after much inquiry can one venture to say that any particular word is wrong. One must remember that village speech is the real standard in Punjabi.
In conclusion I desire to express my grateful thanks to three Indian gentlemen whose assistance throughout has been of muck value to me. They are Sundar Das, teacher in the (2iurch of Scotland High School, Gujrat; Quit Muhammad Zafr BA., holder of the Govt Oriental language Tach & ship Certificate. Punjabi; and like Drew test, teacher in the Qanb of Scotland High School, Wazirabad. I have been fortunate addicting the interest of gentlemen so operate and en willing help.
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