Dictionaries for the Tibetan Language

Copyright notice

This document is presently maintained by David Germano, and currently includes contributions from:

Standard THDL Copyright: anyone can disseminate this resource in any form whatsoever, but is required to maintain as the first item in the header this copyright note on the maintainer, contributors, and THDL copyright. Incorporation of specific parts into people's own work - excepting the author of any specific part of this document - also most include the following citation, "This has been extracted from THDL's Dictionaries for Tibetan Language overview: see www.thdl.org, Reference: Dictionaries". Warning: this is a rough opening draft intended to solicit contributive -- Interested contributors are urged to contact David Germano with ideas, submissions and pointing out of errors or omissions, including willingness to take on more systematic roles as co-maintainers of the resource.

Introduction

The current document aims to be an increasingly comprehensive bibliographical survey of available dictionaries for the reference in studying and using the Tibetan language, including guidelines and tips for their usage by students of Tibetan language of all varieties. We intend to provide descriptive metadata, reviews and searchable databases. These resources are prefaced with background information on lexicography and its history in Tibet and Tibetan Studies. This is a collaborative initiative, with all contributors listed here at the head of the document, while substantial contributions are also cited as they occur in the document, as are any submitted bibliographic entry. Contributors' names will be hotlinked to personal entries in the THDL scholar database, or if they are not scholars, to personal emails or other contact information. At present the document is biased towards Tibetan and English materials, but we are interested in contributions on Tibetan dictionaries in other languages _ Chinese, Hindi, French, German, Japanese and so forth.

In addition to this bibliographical initiative, THDL is currently engaged in a funded three year project (2003-6) to build a rich collaborative infrastructure for publishing dictionaries, glossaries, encyclopedias and other such references resources, for which we welcome contributions. This can be best thought of as a publishing service - contributors' own work remains intact and identifiable as such, but is enhanced by sitting side by side with similar work. The infrastructure can also be used for on-line expansion and editing of such contributions.

It is important from the outset to clarify some of the basic vocabulary. To begin with, we divide lexical resources in general into three broadly defined, but overlapping types. While we realize our strict definitions are somewhat artificial, and that in use these terms can be used in overlapping ways, we find it useful to provide standard definitions in this context for ease of reference and classification:

Glossaries are in essence simply lists of translations, such that each Tibetan word is given an equivalent word or phrase in the target language. In addition, they can have other limited information such as parts of speech. It is the absence of definitions that makes it a glossary and not a dictionary. Three distinct styles of glossaries may be delineated based upon the types and sources of the words found within them, as well as the intertwined goal of the glossary:

General and thematic are used throughout the present document to refer to the coverage of any given lexicographical resource: "general" signifies that a given resource includes a wide range of words not limited to any one subject or corpus of literature, while "thematic" signifies that a given resource is limited to a specific body of words, such as "biological" terminology, or words found in the corpus of writings of a given individual, or words applying to architecture, and so forth. "General" thus is a resource which for at least theoretically offers "one stop shopping" for students, since it aims to offer a broad coverage of words sufficient for constant consultation in reading a text. In contrast, thematic resources are limited in scope to a particular focus _ a certain type of terminology specific to an intellectual discipline, or corpus of literature for example. They can thus be frustrating to use when utilizing dictionaries constantly in reading a text in the language in question, since the dictionary may or may not have the term in question, requiring a tedious consultation of multiple dictionaries. However, they are often more precise in translation and detailed in definitions than a general dictionary offers for the same term, such that they can be useful when a particular world is troublesome, or when one is interested in gaining a deeper understanding of a group of terms affiliated in some fashion. In practice, the line between "general" and "thematic" is somewhat arbitrary, but our rule of thumb has been breadth of reference across the most standard types of Tibetan language, namely classical Tibetan, modern literary Tibetan, or spoken Lhasan.

While technically speaking "personal" and "indexes" are thus a subset of thematic, we have separated them out in this context given their importance as types of glossaries. Personal glossaries simply provide a standard set of translations for technical terminology employed by a given author, or team of authors, in their translations, essays and books for easy reference by the reader. Thus such personal glossaries are often found in the back of books. Word or phrase indexes are similar, but tend to be focused on specific texts, or even bodies of texts. Using them, one can easily find where a specific word occurs in that text or literature, as well, if the text exists in different languages, what word that word translates in the other language(s).

In contrast, a dictionary is marked by the presence of definitions as well as translations. However, dictionaries are tremendously varied in structure, and can range from glossary-style dictionaries at one end, to encyclopedia-style dictionaries on the other end. For purposes of reference, we divide dictionary types into four:

At the minimal end, dictionaries can often be barely distinguishable from glossaries. Such glossary-style dictionaries often are no more than glorified glossaries, distinguished from ordinary glossaries only by offering multiple translations for a given term, the structuration of such translations into groups that suggest different meanings for the term, and/or perhaps modest descriptive documents that range from incidental notes to very spare definitions.

In contrast standard dictionaries systematically offer definitions for each term, and these definitions are at least as prominent structurally as the translations of the terms in question. In addition, standard dictionaries generally offer other categories of information about each term beyond definitions, most typically pronunciation, grammar type, etymology and examples. Pronunciation typically uses a simplified phonetic scheme for representing the sounds of the words in the source or target language, or use the international standard for phonetic representations known as "IPA" (international phonetic alphabet). In digital and on-line dictionaries, pronunciation is also often represented with a sound file giving the actual sound of the word. Grammar type typically uses abbreviations - such as V for verb and so forth - drawn from an analytical scheme representing the language's grammar. Etymology discusses how the word is derived from older forms in the language, as well as other languages originally, to delineate the historical formation of the word in brief. Finally, examples give example sentences illustrating the usage of words in phrases and sentences. Other such categories found in standard dictionaries can including "typing" of words, such as indicating archaic words, regional expressions, and so forth, and the indication of related words such as compounds, synonyms, antonyms and so forth.

Rich dictionaries incorporate the fields of information found in standard dictionaries, but tend to be more comprehensive and lengthy. Of course perhaps the world's most famous example is the well known Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Four central features of rich dictionaries are (i) a historical orientation charting in sometimes astonishing detail the history of individual words over time, (ii) a great attention to variant meanings of words both in dialectical usages and in very nuanced variations, (iii) more detailed and elaborate definitions, and (iv) elaborate citations of written passages and oral speech in which the word occurs, including provisional of full bibliographical references for the texts/transcripts in question. This orientation towards the history of words, as well as citation of sources in which they occur, involves a massive expansion of the length of a dictionary, such that rich dictionaries tend to be extremely lengthy.

An encyclopedia contrasts to a dictionary both in its focus on the content - the items or concepts referred to by terms - rather than the linguistic nature of the terms in themselves, as well as in its focus on extensive essay-length descriptions rather than short, analytical informational structured into categories such as definition, etymology, and pronunciation. Thus unlike dictionaries, which aim to document linguistic features of words, including their meanings, such reference resources are organized by words but focus on the phenomenon rather than the words themselves.

Topical dictionaries likewise are marked by a focus on the content in question rather than the linguistic nature of the words. Just as glossary-style dictionaries are almost identical to glossaries, at the other end topical dictionaries are indistinguishable from encyclopedias. We would slightly distinguish them from encyclopedias in that they focus on terminology that applies to a specific subject or body of literature, and hence are still more linguistic in orientation, whereas Encyclopedias are driven by content signified through nominal rubrics, rather than any focus on terminology per se. However, like an Encyclopedia, topical dictionaries consists of paragraph - to several page-long descriptive essays presenting the meaning and use of the term in question, with little to no linguistic data on the term. The focus is on the item referred to by the term, and how its usage came into being. Topical dictionaries will often be discipline based, and attempt to present the terminology used in a specific field of endeavor - such as Dictionary of Biology, A Concise Dictionary of Physics, A Concise glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory, or The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology. Other topical dictionaries may focus on a specific person's literary corpus and terminology specific to it - A Hegel Dictionary, or A Heidegger Dictionary; or they may refer to an entire body of literature unified in some way - The Shamabhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, or The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Like rich dictionaries, topical dictionaries tend to refer to specific literary passages utilizing the term, though they tend to refer to authors, or groups of authors, and how they use the term in a broad fashion as part of an intellectual movement, and so forth. Also like rich dictionaries, they tend to discuss terms historically, though to a lesser degree, to show how the term came into being and changed over time. Finally it should be noted that often scholarly articles and even full length books can function as topical dictionaries even if they are not explicitly presented as such, given their focus on systematically explaining terminology and overarching groups of concepts. Thus such works need to be fully documented to provide a sufficient survey of lexicographical resources.

For a discussion of lexical practices and categories in Tibetan culture itself, as well as particular difficulties pertaining to lexicographical work on Tibetan, please see the essay below on the "History of Tibetan Lexicography"; for an overview of contemporary Tibetan and foreign lexicography, see the same. Finally, THDL's own lexicographical initiatives - which aims at an innovative and long term collaborative integration of glossaries, rich dictionaries, topical dictionaries and encyclopedias. Please see the same essay for details.

History of Tibetan Lexicography

Overview

We define Tibetan Studies as "an International communities of scholars working in different languages, different cultures, and from different intellectual backgrounds and approaches on diverse aspects of the region of the world known as Tibet and people and traditions stemming historically from that region". In this sense, Tibetan Studies is a relatively young field that, despite ancient strands of development, has only existed in a robust, international scale since the twentieth century. As a result of its youth, Tibetan Studies is marked by many inadequacies typical of young and growing fields, among which is included rather poor lexicographical resources whatever the language. Hence individual scholars are compelled to do considerable informal lexicographical work for their own research purposes, thereby deflecting intellectual energy away from their primary tasks.

However, Tibetan culture itself has a long history of lexicography going back at least to the second half of the eighth century, including multilingual resources. This history is marked by a typical evolution from informal word lists and glossaries to more developed full scale dictionaries and encyclopedias, and there are considerable Tibetan literary productions available in this regards from the eight century right into the present.

A historical survey

This section will survey in chronological order the history of Tibetan lexicography. It will begin with the Mahāvyutpatti (bye brag tu rtogs par byed pa chen mo) and sGra sbyor bam po gnyis in the Tibetan Imperial period, right up the Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo and other contemporary developments.

Types of Tibetan Lexicographical Resources

This section surveys the various genres of Tibetan lexicographical resources, mentioning specific points of interest and famous examples.

Tibetan dictionaries (tshig mdzod - literally, "word/phrase treasury") are numerous, and have especially proliferated in the modern era. Such dictionaries typically provide the term, grammatical category, and definitions with examples. More rarely, they will also cite specific literary passages in which the term occurs, but almost never giving edition/pagination beyond the title and sometimes author. Grammatical categories tend to focus primarily on the verbs, which are classified into tha dad vs. tha mi dad, as well as in terms of tense: 'das pa (past), da lta (present), ma 'ongs pa (future) and skul tshig (imperative).

Terms are often also typed in other ways, most typically according to whether they are "old" terms (rnying for brda rnying - "old term"), regional expressions (yul for yul skad - literally "local language", or "dialect"), or poetic synonyms (mngon for mngon brjod, on which see below).

The most famous and important of recent dictionaries is without doubt the bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo (The Great Dictionary of Tibetan and Chinese), a massive Tibetan-Tibetan-Chinese collaborative dictionary composed in the second half of the twentieth century by a team of Tibetan scholars operating under Chinese governmental auspices. This is the only Tibetan dictionary whose scope and quality allows it to function to some degree as a type of standard comprehensive dictionary the way Websters and other such dictionaries function for the English language.

One distinctive body of Tibetan lexicographical resources is termed literally, "Clear Expressions" (mngon brjod), a term sometimes translated as "synonymics", or "poetic terms glossary". These dictionaries provide a list of synonyms for specific terms, and in this sense resemble a thesaurus. However the genre is distinctive in that the synonyms in question tend to be poetry expressions, such as various poetic ways to refer to a specific deity, or a bumble bee, or a bridge, and so forth.

Encyclopedias are also an important category in Tibetan literature, such as the shes bya mdzod, literally "treasury of what can be known", or "treasury of intellectual topics".

Distinctive issues Regarding the Lexicography of Tibetan

In discussing and working on Tibetan lexicography, it essential to understand the distinctive nature of the Tibetan language and how that impacts on lexicography. To begin with, Tibetan in its contemporary sense begins in the eighth century, when it appears that the Tibetan script and literary language was created with support from the Tibetan empire based upon precedents that are still poorly understood. Of course lexicography generally involves the written analysis and documentation of language, so it is not surprising that the birth of Tibetan as a literary language was quickly followed by the birth of Tibetan lexicography. During its first two centuries, literary Tibetan had two forms, one used by the military-government for administrative purposes, and one utilized by the burgeoning Buddhist movement for sacred purposes, including the massive translation project of bringing the pan-Asian Buddhist canon into the Tibetan language and the rising body of indigenous compositions. Lexicography during these initial decades was bound up with government religious institutions, which were concerned to set orthographical and grammatical standards for the new literary language. Following the gradual disintegration of the Tibetan empire in the latter half of the ninth century, a process of first chaos and then revival resulted by the eleventh century in the rise to ascendancy of the religious forms of literacy and literature. From that point onwards, Tibetan lexicography tended to have a strong interlinkage with Tibetan religious and philosophical literature, communities and goals.

Literary Tibetan thus can be defined very broadly into three phases:

Orthography has been extraordinarily conservative over the centuries across all three phases, with a series of standardizations creating significant differences between Old and Classical, and the hesitant rise of vernacular literatures in the last century producing irregular differences between Classical and Modern based upon the incorporation of modern and dialectical pronunciations. The most problematic aspect of orthography, however, is (i) the lack of a rigorous standardization in general, and (ii) the failure to standardize the spelling of a plethora of colloquial words in particular. To understand this we have to understand the most difficult problem of all: Tibetan dialects. Every language is confronted with lexicographical challenges pertaining to documenting literary as well as spoken forms of speech, and especially the degree to which the latter - with its more rapid changes and uncertain forms - should be systematically documented. in Tibet, however, the problem is that what we call dialects are really separate languages at the spoken level, even if their speakers have tended - when literate - to be utilize a shared transregional literary language. The old adage about a dialect being a language without an army, and a language being a dialect with an army comes to mind. In essence, we use the term "Tibetan" to describe a language family, but the specific languages never achieved political autonomy in the 20th century nor gave rise to corresponding vernacular literatures such as happened with the rise of Romance Languages in Europe. Hence they are "dialects". The actual historical origins of these different spoken languages continues to be a contested point as to whether they might all descend from an imperial period proto-Tibetan, or share resemblances from centuries of common interaction and influence. (denwood 43-4, tourandre). In addition, in contemporary times with the rise of secular education and breakup of traditional patterns of interaction, regional forms of literacy have begun to emerge, threatening the centuries old dominance of classical Tibetan as a touchstone for transregional unity.

If lexicography sticks to purely literary Tibetan, this is only a minor irritant, but if one aims to create a dialectical dictionary comparing terms across dialects, essentially one is creating a multilingual dictionary with all the attendant complexities and problems. Often terms only vary in pronunciation across dialects, while in other cases only linguistic reconstruction can show the continuity, and in still other cases, it is unclear just what the relationship is of divergent terms for the same thing across dialects. In addition, there are very difficult orthographical problems. Since these dialects have a host of terms and grammatical particles without clear Classical Tibetan correspondents, and only infrequently written down in literary sources, recent Tibetan writings dealing with speech (linguistic studies, performance scripts, instructional materials, new vernacular bodies of literature, etc.) have given rise to a bewildering variety of spellings for the same term with little standardization.

Finally, it should be pointed out that over the past six decades political factors have entailed that the Tibetan language has been subject to immense pressures from other languages affecting especially diction, but also grammatical forms: Chinese, English and Hindi/Nepali in particular. The sudden influx of so many loan words, including again the frequent proliferation of orthographical practices, also creates a challenge for the lexicographer concerned with contemporary spoken and written Tibetan.

The THDL Tibetan Dictionary Initiative

The Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library (THDL) views an understanding and documentation of Tibetan language and terminology as a crucial foundation to the future of Tibetan Studies, as well as for the support of contemporary Tibetan communities and promotion of international understanding of the Tibetan culture and people. Thus in 2000 it launched an ambitious project to building a robust Web-based infrastructure for collaboratively building, maintaining and publishing an integrated series of lexicographical resources on the Tibetan language and culture consisting of individual modules that can be simultaneously built and consulted as separate resources. Entitled provisionally The THDL Tibetan Dictionary, it integrates all lexicographical aspects outlined above of traditional glossaries, dictionaries, and encyclopedias in a single powerful resource. This will be facilitated by the ability to view the resource in different forms according to user criteria, which filters out specified categories of information, as well as information deriving from specific sources.

A second distinctive aspect is that is designed in all ways to be collaborative such that the contributions of multiple scholars and projects are individually credited, and yet integrated in visually and intellectually coherent manners. In addition, the design allows a wide variety of individual lexicographical resources to be created, maintained and viewed as such, yet also be presented in an integrated fashion as a single resource when the user desires it. A "THDL standard" entry in fields will attempt to maintain the utility of a uniform, tightly controlled lexicographical resource, while the multiple views inherent in digital formats will allow users to switch and forth between a standard view, and views according to various criteria (all entries by a given scholar, or project, and so forth). A third distinctive aspect it that it is being designed as multilingual, with the capacity built in to expand coverage to new languages as scholarly resources become available for those languages. This includes the goal of incorporating Tibetans' own lexicographical work in Tibetan language/script, and integrating it with work by non-Tibetan scholars in their respective languages/scripts. A fourth distinctive aspect is that its design allows multimedia illustrations, ranging from sound files for pronunciation or illustration of meaning, to images and videos for illustration purposes. A fifth distinctive aspect is that it aims to examine all forms and phases of Tibetan language, including literary and spoken, old literary Tibetan to modern literary Tibetan, and the extremely diverse range of spoken dialects of Tibetan. Its design thus allows for colloquial and literary dictionaries, as well as dialectical dictionaries. A sixth and final distinctive aspect is the Spelling Standardization effort launched at Tibet University with THDL's support, which aims at building the basis for a standardization of spelling of colloquial Tibetan terms using contemporary digital technology for facilitation.

Given this, the technical infrastructure for the dictionary is complex and demanding. An initial two year phase of prototyping designed primarily by David Germano with consultations with Edward Garrett, Matthew Kapstein and Nicolas Tournadre was done by the University of Virginia's Instructional Technology Group's Yitna Firdyiwek from 2000 to 2002. This prototyping produced a stable design, which was implemented in JSP and MYSQL by THDL's own Travis McCauley in consultation with Germano. Its interface is currently being worked on (fall 2003). The goal from 2003-5 will be to slowly in a series of phases open it up the community of Tibetan Studies scholar across the world for collaborative input and discussion, so that gradually it can become a dynamic, vibrant living dictionary for the entire community of Tibetan Studies and Tibetans. Current projects already integrated or due to be integrated include:

For glossaries, we intend them to be used in quick computer parsing of Tibetan texts where a straight reading of translation "equivalents" is all that is required. In addition, the glossary dimension can be used to see how a Tibetan term is correlated to other canonical Buddhist languages (Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Mongolian), or to see quickly how various translators translate it. We are thus soliciting personal glossaries from scholars, as well as anyone's compilation of translations used within a specific author's work; we also interested in anyone's thematic glossaries. The same applies for word indexes to specific Tibetan texts, or bodies of Tibetan literature.

For dictionaries, we intend to provide facilities mirroring glossary-style, standard, rich and topical dictionaries, with users able to specify which functions they want to view and utilize at any give point. Of particular note is the capacity to provide detailed citations of usage in Tibetan literature and transcripts of speech, as well as the extremely rich array of specific linguistic categories which are charted for each word: related terms, pronunciation, etymology, translations, definitions, and so forth. In addition, definitions can be far more detailed and specific than in ordinary dictionaries. Finally, the design intends to cover the historical phases of literary Tibetan, as well as dialectical variation for spoken Tibetan.

For encyclopedias, our design offers the full ability to post encyclopedia-style essays. Of particular note is we intend to allow for multiple entries for any given rubric. Our current design integrates topical dictionaries and encyclopedias by making a shorter front essay corresponding to a topical dictionary style approach, and then appending to that entry potentially multiple essays that may be longer and stem from diverse authors on the same topic signified by the term in question. In addition, the encyclopedia will allow for multimedia items to be posted as well, including those drawn directly from THDL's own resources.

This project combines four distinct types of dictionaries:

  1. Basic Dictionary (spyir btang gi tshig mdzod/)
  2. Topical Dictionary (ched las kyi tshig mdzod/)
  3. Historical Dictionary (khungs 'dren pa'i tshig mdzod/)
  4. Dialectal Dictionary (yul skad kyi tshig mdzod/)

The scope of the project can be perhaps best understood by a synoptic list of some of the principal methods of explicating a word, presented here from the most basic to most elaborate levels:

Practical guide

When reading a text in general, it is recommended you primarily consult the Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, the most comprehensive, reliable and precisely worded dictionary currently available. As a backup when a given word is not available, the usage is not documented, or the Tibetan language definition defies understanding, one should have a set of backup general dictionaries which one consults for clarification, alternative definitions, and possibly expanded coverage. A good range to draw from are Chandra Das's Tibetan-English Dictionary, Jäschke's A Tibetan English Dictionary, Duff's The Illuminator, the Dag yig gsar bsgrigs, Goldstein's The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan, Rangjung Yeshe's Tibetan-English Dictionary, or Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary. For a reader with advanced intermediate skills, momentum can be maintained by relying just on 1-2 of these sources, and for difficult cases consulting more. The English dictionaries can also help one to return to difficult Tibetan language definitions in the Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo or Dag yig gsar sgrigs, while sometimes the other dictionaries will have unique coverages of certain words or certain senses that will shed the necessary light on the usage/passage at hand. Goldstein is particularly of use in dealing with modern literary sources. Duff, Rangjung Yeshe Tibetan-English Dictionary, and Hopkins can be helpful for specific translations of philosophical and ritual terminology that is fuzzy in Jäschke and Das, absent in Goldstein, and not entirely clear within the pure Tibetan of the Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo.

In certain cases, topical dictionaries can be critical, especially when one needs to better understand the implied or assumed context and have a very precise understanding of technical terms, or of terms from a specific historical context. In this regards, the gSo ba rig pa'i tshig mdzod g.yu thog dgongs rgyan is a superb medical dictionary with detailed quotes from medical literature explaining medical terminology. There are also a variety of other special resources to go for specific reasons (to be completed):

Sort order

When looking up a term in a Tibetan lexicographical source, there is a typical sorting order followed through there are minor variations. The following gives the principles, and uses "g" as a root letter for example.

  1. Words are organized according to the root letter of their first syllables in the following order: k, kh, g, ng, c, ch, j, ny, t, th, d, n, p, ph, b, m, ts, tsh, dz, w, zh, z, 'e, y, r, l, sh, s, h, a. Example: ga.
  2. Within a given root letter section, the first words are those with no prefixes, subscripts, superscripts. These are ordered according to their vowels, and then suffixes secondarily. Vowels influence the order with "a" first, then "i", then "u", then "e", and finally "o". Example: gag, gang, gad.
  3. Subsequently come words with subscription but neither prefix nor superscription. The order is as follows: y, r, l, and w. Further alphabetization is by vowel, as above. Example: gi, gu, ge, go.
  4. Next comes root letter with prefixes, in this order: g, d, b, m, 'e. Further alphabetization is by vowel, as above, and then by subscription, as above. Example: gya, gyi, gyo, gra, gri, gro, gla, gli, glo, gwa, gwi, gwo, etc.
  5. Next comes root letter with superscription, but no prefix, in this order: r, l, s. Further alphabetization is by vowel, as above, and then by subscription, as above. Example: rga, rgo, rgya, rgyo, lga, lgra, sga, sgo, sgla, etc.
  6. Finally comes root letter with superscription and prefix. Further alphabetization is by vowel, as above, and then by subscription, as above. Example: brga, brgo, brgya, brgyo, brgra, brgro, etc. There is currently intensive work going on with the sorting of Tibetan in computer contexts, and the projected support of Tibetan Unicode in by 2005 in Windows will be accompanied by support for Tibetan sorting.

Bibliographical Survey

Help

Type: this specifies the type of reference resource it is.

Lang: All entries are typed according to Language, with the order of the languages in the dictionary indicated by the order of the languages listed in the entry. In other words, T-E is Tibetan-English, while E-T is English-Tibetan.

Reference: this provides a bibliographical reference, and also specifies its length and number of terms covered (when available).

Availability:

Description:

Ultimately we plan to provide example entries to illustrate the format and content of the lexicographical resource in question.

Glossaries


Type Lang Reference Availability Description
Glossary
Index		 T-C rnal 'byor spyod pa'i sa las btus pa'i tha snyad bod rgya shan sbyar: a terminological dictionary with Tibetan and Chinese (no definitions whatsoever) Type:
Delivery:
Notes:
 Format: Tibetan, Chinese and no definitions at all.
Focus:
Value:
Problems:
Notes:

Dictionaries

Type Lang Reference Availability Description
Dictionary:
Glossary/ Standard:
General 		T-E Rangjung Yeshe (ongoing). Tibetan-English Dictionary of Buddhist Culture. This is only distributed in electronic version on CD-Rom, now in version 2.0. Appoximately 66,000 entries. Type: CD, Web
Delivery: commercial in off-line version, free online
Notes: off-line version available from www.snowlionpub.com; on-line version available from here. The dictionary is exclusively digital in dissemination, and is available in a variety of formats due to the authors' generous dissemination practices, including the automated parsing 'translation tool' hosted by THDL:Reference:Dictionary:Translation Tool.		 Format: Its original format was more of a glossary than a dictionary, though multiple translations for a given term are enumerated separately according to meaning, and there are intermittent definitional style notes. The source of entries is partially indicated through parenthetical attribution.
Focus: the focus is on Buddhist terminology and facilitating the work of translators of Tibetan Buddhist literature
Value: its value is in its huge range of words included - it will often have words or obscure meanings documented not found elsewhere. It is particularly good for rNying ma and bKa' brgyud sectarian terminology, which is often poorly represented in other dictionaries.
Problems: due to its history as a compilation from existing dictionaries, word-lists and glossaries, as well as its heterogeneous history of input and editing, the dictionary is of uneven quality and at times sprawling in its plethora of translation equivalents not clearly ranked according to importance. In addition, the focus on listing translation equivalents at the expense of systematic definitions and other lexical categories often limits its utility.
Notes: none.
Dictionary:
Glossary
Standard:
General 		T-E Valby, James. Type: CD, Web
Delivery
Notes: 		Format:
Focus:
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T Krang dbyi sun, general editor (1993). Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo. Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang. 3294 pp. It was first published in a large three-volume edition, then in a much smaller small print two-volume edition, and finally in a single-volume edition. There are slight alterations across editions, but essentially they are all identical in terms of content. Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: available from www.snowlionpub.com at times. Purchasable at most Tibetan language bookstores in China, Nepal or India. 		Format: the head words are written in Tibetan language/script, followed by enumerated definitions in Tibetan language/script accompanied by Chinese translations in Chinese characters. It occasionally gives the Sanskrit equivalent in Tibetan transliteration within brackets. A new edition pending will replace the Chinese with English. Ample example sentences are provided, but sourced citations are rare. Grammatical typing is minimal and largely limited to bracketed specifications as to whether verbs are tha dad or tha mi dad, and which tense of the verb the term is; for present tenses, all four tenses are specified. Terms are also typed according to whether they are archaic (rnying), regionalisms (yul), or poetic synonyms (mngon), all of which are indicated by the bracketed syllable right after the term and before the definition.
Focus: classical Tibetan with a focus on Buddhist understanding of terminology, at the expense of Old Tibetan and modern literature/spoken Tibetan.
Value: its comprehensive scope, detailed definitions and precision make it the only extant Tibetan-Tibetan dictionary that can claim the stature and standardization of something like Webster's and associated English-language dictionaries. It is without doubt the first dictionary a serious scholar should consult in general when reading a text. In contrast to such uneven dictionaries as Chandra Das, its definitions are reliable and well ordered, while its scope exceeds any other dictionary available for Tibetan.
Problems: one problem is that the terms' definitions are heavily biased towards classical Buddhist usages, and it can thus be inadequate for understanding archaic usages of terms. In addition, definitions are not always well done: they can be circular with definitions referring to other words which are in turn defined in terms of the first word; they can be terse to the point of only offering generic reference, such as "a type of bird," "a type of flower," and so forth without more specifics; and finally, definitions can simply be difficult to understand due to a cumbersome wording.
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General:
DFG 		T-T tshan chung (compiler) (1989). Dag yig gsar bsgrigs. Mtsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang. 887 pages. Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format: Entirely in Tibetan language/script, it has the standard format of terms followed by enumerated definitions which included numerous examples. Related compounds are sometimes provided as well. It has no additional categories apart from an initial grammatical typing, which classifies verbs into "byed med las tshig" (intransitive, passive) and "byed 'brel las tshig" (transitive, active), and also identifies the relevant verbal tense(s); it also identifies rgyan tshig (adjectives) and bsnan tshig (adverbials). Alternative spellings ('bri srol gzhan) are provided under that spelling, which point to the normative spelling of the term for the full definition.
Focus: it cover the full range of classical and modern literary Tibetan, though it is somewhat weaker for specialized religious vocabulary.
Value: its definitions are often superb, with more incisiveness and clarity than found in other, more stilted Tibetan-Tibetan dictionaries. When struggling with specific words and fine nuances of meaning, this can often be a valuable resource.
Problems: as mentioned above, its coverage of religious terminology, personages and texts is not as deep as, say, the Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo. Some have criticized it for a tendency to use communist political slogans in its examples. However this is hardly surprising given the political realities of the time, and it doesn't really interfer with one's use of it as a reference work.
Notes: none.
Dictionary:
Standard:
General:
DFG 		T-E/E-T Jäschke, H. A. (1975) A Tibetan English Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. First printed by Routledge, Kegan & Paul in 1881. Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: available from www.snowlionpub.com at times. 		Format: head words are given in Tibetan script, followed by a Wylie-style transliteration of the Tibetan in Roman script. Sanskrit terms when available are given next in Devanagari script, and occasionally translations in other languages such as Turkish in its own script. Enumerated detailed definitions follow, which include numerous examples and citations that are often even provided with original source information. There are also attempts to give dialectical variants of terms and spellings. Words are also grammatically typed, including information on verb tenses. Of note is a brief English-Tibetan vocabulary list provided as an appendix.
Focus: the aim is to be a comprehensive dictionary of classical literary Tibetan, with some reference to contemporary vernaculars in the mid nineteenth century.
Value: it is an excellent overall dictionary with large coverage of terms, detailed definitions, and solid lexicographical work in general. Indeed, this early Tibetan-English dictionary is the main early Tibetan-English competitor to Chandra Das's famous dictionary, although it is used much less frequently. However, there is a significant minor of scholars who prefer it to Das, because of its superior quality control and consistency. Das's greater scope is accompanied by a greater amount of errors, frequent incoherent organization of definitions, and other flaws.
Problems: its date entails that a huge range of distinctive modern Tibetan literary vocabulary is missing. In addition, while definitions are admirably detailed, philosophical and ritual terminology tends to often be imprecise, in addition to lacking some key terms.
Notes: none.
Dictionary:
Standard:
General:
DFG 		T-E-S Das, Sarat Chandra. Tibetan-English Dictionary. 1353 pages. Type: text, CD
Delivery: commercial
Notes: available from www.snowlionpub.com. This is available in a number of editions varying in size, binding and format. A large size (6.5 x 10", cloth); a cheap compact edition. A digital version from the Tibetan Computing Company. 		Format: it provides Tibetan script head words, followed by Wylie-style transliteration of the term, and Sanskrit equivalents if available in Devanagari script. This is then followed by separately enumerated definitions with numerous citations and sample sentences given in Tibetan script followed by English translations. Tibetan Computing Company's digital version offers an Windows-based electronic version of Das's dictionary, which can also be run on Macs using Soft PC: it is rapid, allows for searching, and has been corrected/standardized in spelling to facilitate searches. However, it lacks the Sanskrit terms.
Focus: the dictionary aims to provide a robust and broad resource for studying classical Tibetan across all genres of literature.
Value: This dictionary - referred to as "Das" or "Chandra Das" - is perhaps the standard Tibetan-English dictionary in terms of extent of use by students and scholars. It offers a large number of terms, detailed and often rare definitions, citations of lines with titles of the sources given, and Sanskrit equivalents.
Problems: it has numerous flaws - philosophical terminology is generally poorly defined, definitions often are in a haphazard order without indicating the correct priority of definitions in terms of importance, definitions often include very rare or idiosyncratic usages with no indication that is the case, errors of diverse types are everywhere, and the Sanskrit is often incorrect, and/or multiple terms are listed with no indication of how they differ. Some have referred to it unkindly as "Jäschke with errors", and there is an element of truth to this characterization. At the same time, it continues to be a very useful resource, and at times will have unusual definitions not found elsewhere. Thus its strength - the plethorea of alternative definitions and valences of words - is also its weakness. Finally, its early date of composition entails that a huge range of distinctive modern Tibetan literary vocabulary is missing, through no fault of its own.
Notes: none.
Dictionary:
Standard:
General:
DFG 		T-E Goldstein, Melvyn (2001). The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan. Berkeley: the University of California Press. 1195 pages. Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: available from Amazon.com and other bookstores. A sample chapter from the book (letter ka) can be viewed in a pdf file on the following URL: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/6784.html (click "read the first 20 pages"). 		Format: It provides the term in Tibetan script term, a parenthetical phonetic representation in Roman script, the grammatical type, and a short definition. At times sample sentences are provided in Tibetan/script with English translations.
Focus: on modern literary and spoken Tibetan, with no aim to cover classical Tibetan terminology except to the degree it is continuous with modern literary Tibetan.
Value: This second edition is the best English language dictionary available for reference for modern literary Tibetan and spoken Central Tibetan. It is also of significant use in reading classical Tibetan literature with more colloquial and narrative aspects, such as biographies, histories and so forth. It stands in a class by itself in terms of resources available for the study of modern literary and spoken Central Tibetan. It should be the first resource consulted in reading modern literary Tibetan, and also should be an important supplementary work in reading narrative materials in classical Tibetan.
Problems: because of its pioneering character, it also has typical problems of groundbreaking lexicography. Not infrequently standard terms found in modern Tibetan are omitted, or when given, do not clearly provide definitions for very common patterns of usage. In addition, the definitions are general brief; this comes as a welcome relief to the sprawl of works like Das or Jäschke, but often fails to give enough context to understand precisely how the term is used in modern Tibetan.
Notes: Professor Goldstein has begun posting additions and corrections at: http://www.cwru.edu/affil/tibet/. To go directly to the addendum, use: http://www.cwru.edu/affil/tibet/addendum-new.pdf The plan is to update the additions and correction site every 5-6 months, so please send new words or corrections to Professor Goldstein at mcg2@po.cwru.edu.
Dictionary:
Standard:
General:
DFG 		T-E-S Duff, Tony. The Illuminator Dictionary. Type: off-line digital
Delivery: commerical
Notes: available from www.snowlionpub.com. 		Format: The software is custom-made and is intuitive with powerful in its searching routines. I am temporarily without access to a recent copy and hence must complete this entry at a later time.
Focus: it aims to be a comprehensive resource on classical literary Tibetan and terminology used in Buddhist literature.
Value: its definitions are admirably well organized and consistent in quality, since Mr. Duff has been the single author of the dictionary from its inception to present. In addition, definitions are often given at length, with a useful concern to detail the straightforward and interpretative etymologies of words as well. The digital format opens up utilities not found in print dictionaries, and the constant updates mean the dictionary grows and expands over time.
Problems: need to use it more thoroughly to pinpoint potential problems.
Notes: none.
Dictionary:
Standard:
General:
DFG 		E-T Goldstein, Melvyn (1999) with Ngawangthondup Narkyid. English-TIbetan Dictionary of Modern Tibetan. Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives. Type: text
Delivery: commerical
Notes: available from www.snowlionpub.com. 		Format:
Focus:
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General:
DFG 		E-T Tsering, Tashi. English-Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary. Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus:
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
Thematic
DFG 		T-E-S Rigzin, Tsepak (1993). Tibetan-English Dictionary of Buddhist Terminology. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. Second revised edition. ISBN 81-85102-88-0. 309 pp. Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: available from www.snowlionpub.com. 		Format: this print resource first gives the Tibetan terms in Tibetan script, followed by Sanskrit when available in Roman script transliteration. Definitions are singular in general and of intermediate detail, with lists of items giving the Tibetan terms in Tibetan script followed by English translations. No linguistic data is provided for terms apart from translations and definition.
Focus: to provide a lexicon of Buddhist technical terminology, including numerous numerically enumerated items - the four perfect abandonments, and so forth. It draws upon classic Tibetan Buddhist lexicons, and especially the Imperial period Mahāvyutpatti, while its second revision draws heavily upon the Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo.
Value: it is an excellent summary of Buddhist terminology and useful for a quick reference on such terminology, especially various numerical lists.
Problems: as a thematic dictionary limited chiefly to Buddhist technical terminology that are nouns as well as failing to provide any linguistic data beyond definition, even for reading doctrinal materials one still has to draw upon other dictionaries to look up the full range of words one encounters. In addition, definitions clue one into the general meaning, but if one doesn't already understand the meaning or context, it lacks more detailed notes about the usage and contextual meaning of the term.
Notes: none.

Encyclopedias

Type Lang Reference Availability Description
Encyclopedia:
Standard:
General 		T-T dung dkar tshig mdzod chen mo Type:
Delivery:
Notes: 		Format:
Focus:
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Encyclopedia:
Thematic
DFG 		T-E Beer, Robert (ND). The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs. London: Serindia Publications. 373pp. ISBN 0-906026-48-2. Type: text
Delivery: commerical
Notes: available fm standard booksellers 		Format: the text's format is to provide a rubric in English with Sanskrit and Tibetan parenthetically indicated in Roman script transliteration, followed by a detailed English language essay on that subject. There are detailed line drawings illustrating each item drawn by the artist, himself a prominent artists training in Tibetan artistic traditions. In addition, the essays tend to discuss the particulars of the item's visual representations. The actual presentation is divided into 12 chapters, each devoted to a particular family or motif of symbols:
  1. Landscape Elements
  2. Flowers and Trees
  3. Animalas
  4. Narrative Illustrations
  5. Cosmology
  6. Mudras
  7. The Chakravartin and his Seven Precious Possessions
  8. Auspicious Symbols
  9. Various Peaceful Offerings, Jewels and Ritual Implements
  10. The Wheel of Sharp Weapons
  11. Wrathful Offerings, Tormas, and Ritual Fire Hearths
  12. Geometric Borers, Patterns, Designs and Motifs

Focus: to provide an illustrated encyclopedia of Tibetan symbols and symbolic motifs with visual illustrations.
Value: the book provides an excellent visual and verbal introduction to mainstream Buddhist symbols and symbolic representations found in Tibet. It has great value both as an introduction to these reoccurent symbols and motifs for the interested reader, and as a reference work to find details about a given symbol or motif that one encounters in one's readings. The illustrations are superb and the smoothly written essays admirably combine content discussion with analysis of visual details of standard Tibetan iconographical practices.
Problems: I have not evaluated in detail the scholarly rigor of the essays, so can't say at present whether or not there may be problems on that front.
Notes: none.

Items to classify

Type Lang Reference Availability Description
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T dge bshes chos kyi grags pas brtsams pa'i brda dag cing tshig gsal ba Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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General 		T-T tshig mdzod brda dag kun gsal me long Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T dag yig gsar bsgrigs Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Problems:
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General 		T-T brda gsar rnying gi rnam gzhag li shi'i gur khang Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: old words
Value:
Problems:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T mngon brjod gser gyi lde mig Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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General 		T-T mngon brjod kyi bstan bcos mkhas pa'i rna rgyan Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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General 		T-T mngon brjod phyogs bsgrigs Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Dictionary:
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General 		S-T -sam bod skad gnyis shan sbyar Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Dictionary:
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General 		T-C bod rgya shan sbyar gyi ge sar tshig mdzod. Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
Value:
Problems:
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Dictionary:
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General 		T-T chos kyi rnam grangs Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T brda gsal snying gi gnam gzhag Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Dictionary:
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General 		S-T-C sam bod rgya gsum shan sbyar gi tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
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Dictionary:
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General 		T-T dpe chos rna ba'i bdud rtsi Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems: Notes:
Dictionary:
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General 		T-C-E bod rgya dbyin skad kyi dngos lugs rig pa'i tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: physics
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-C-E bod rgya dbyin skad kyi grangs rig tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: mathematics
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-C-E bod rgya dbyin skad kyi rdzas 'gyur rig pa'i tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: chemistry
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-E-C bod dbyin rgya gsum shan sbyar tshig mdzod (Dictionary Combiningof Tibetan, English and Chinese). Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T nang rig pa'i tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
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Dictionary:
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General 		T-T nub phyogs sher rtogs rig pa'i tshig bum Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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General 		T-T zhe sa tshig mdzod rab gsal me long Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: honorifics
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T mngon brjod kyi 'grel pa btus bsgrigs legs bshad 'dren pa'i dung sgra Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
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General 		T-E-C bod dbyin rgya gsum shan sbyar tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
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Dictionary:
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General 		T-T gser gyi sbram bu'i ming tshig mchan 'grel nor bu'i do shel Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Problems:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T brda dkrol gser gyyi me long Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
Value:
Problems:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T mngon brjod tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T bod rgya skar rtsis rig pa'i tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: astrology
Value:
Problems: Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T sman ming gi mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: medicine
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-C bod rgya la gsum gyi bod sman ming mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: medicine
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T bod sman kun 'dus ming mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: medicine.
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-C-E bod rgya dbyin skad kyi sa khams rig pa'i tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: geography
Value:
Problems:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T dpe chos tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T bod yig gi grangs rig tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T bod kyi ner mkho'i zas rigs tshig mdzod (Tibetan traditional food and drink dictionary) Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: Tibetan food and drinks
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T bod rgya dbyin skad kyi grangs rig tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
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Dictionary:
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General 		T-C-E Tibetan-Chinese-English Computer Dictionary (bod rgya dbyin skad kyi rtsis 'khor tshig mdzod) Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: computer terminology
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T zhe sa'i lag deb blo gsar dga' ston Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus: honorifics.
Value:
Problems:
Notes:
Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T bod rgya dbyin skad kyi rtsis 'khor tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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General 		C-T rgya bod shan sbyar sangs rgyas chos gzhung gi tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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General 		T-T bod rgya sangs rgyas chos gzhung gi tshig mdzod. in 1997, i bought the sangs rgyas chos gzhung gi tshig Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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General 		T-T bod rgya shan sbyar gyi shes bya'i rnam grangs kun btus tshig mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
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Focus:
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Problems:
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Dictionary:
Standard:
General 		T-T rgya bod ming mdzod Type: text
Delivery: commercial
Notes: 		Format:
Focus:
Value:
Problems:
Notes:

Reviews

By David Germano (University of Virginia); published in Geolinguistics, vol. 29.

Goldstein, Melvyn (2001). The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan. Berkeley: the University of California Press.

Tibetan in its contemporary sense begins in the eighth century, when it appears that the Tibetan script and literary language was created with support from the Tibetan empire based upon precedents that are still poorly understood. Of course lexicography Generally involves the written analysis and documentation of language, so it is not surprising that the birth of Tibetan as a literary language was quickly followed by the birth of Tibetan lexicography. During its first two centuries, literary Tibetan was utilized by the military-government for administrative purposes, and by the burgeoning Buddhist movement for sacred purposes, including the massive translation project of bringing the pan-Asian Buddhist canon into the Tibetan language and the rising body of indigenous compositions. Lexicography during these initial decades was bound up with government religious institutions, which were concerned to set orthographical and grammatical standards for the new literary language. Following the gradual disintegration of the Tibetan empire in the latter half of the ninth century, a process of first chaos and then revival resulted by the eleventh century in the rise to ascendancy of religious forms of literacy and literature. From that point onwards, Tibetan lexicography tended to have a strong linkage with Tibetan religious and philosophical literature, communities and goals. Literary Tibetan thus can be defined very broadly into three phases:

Orthography has been extraordinarily conservative over the centuries across all three phases, with a series of standardizations creating significant differences between Old and Classical, and the hesitant rise of vernacular literatures over the last century producing irregular differences between Classical and Modern based upon the incorporation of modern and dialectical pronunciations.

Modern literary Tibetan has been subject to rapid changes as literally thousands of new words have entered the lexicon both in the form of neologisms coined for new technical vocabulary and loan words from Chinese, English, Nepali and Hindi (depending on the location of the Tibetan community in question). In addition, the problem of Tibetan dialects has increasingly come to the fore. Tibetan "dialects" are really separate languages at the spoken level, even if their speakers have historically tended - when literate - to utilize a shared transregional literary language. The old adage about a dialect being a language without an army, and a language being a dialect with an army comes to mind. The term "Tibetan" describes a language family, but the specific languages - with the exception of Dzongkha in Bhutan - never achieved political autonomy in the 20th century nor gave rise to corresponding vernacular literatures such as happened with the rise of Romance Languages in Europe. The actual historical origins of these different spoken languages continues to be a contested point as to whether they might all descend from an imperial period proto-Tibetan, or share resemblances from centuries of common interaction and influence. In contemporary times with the rise of secular education and breakup of traditional patterns of interaction, regional forms of literacy have begun to emerge, threatening the centuries old dominance of classical Tibetan as a touchstone for transregional unity.

Because of the large body of pre-modern Tibetan literature and its importance for Buddhist studies both in terms of its canon of translated Buddhist classics and indigenous compositions, most English-language lexicography of Tibetan has focused on pre-modern classical literary sources until recently. Melvyn Goldstein has been a stellar exception as the preeminent English-language lexicographer of modern Tibetan over the past three decades with a series of groundbreaking dictionaries. His major published work began with the Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan (editions in 1975, 1978 and 1983 published by Ratna Pustak Bhandar (Kathmandu, Nepal). With over 40,000 entries, this quickly became a standard for scholars dealing with spoken Tibetan, modern literary Tibetan, and indeed even classical resources that were narrative or political in character. In contrast to most previous reference works for Tibetan with their focus on classical literary Tibetan and religious terminology, Goldstein provided reliable documentation of modern spoken Tibetan in the proto-standard Lhasan, and focused in terms of literary on modern forms. The dictionary was particularly notable for its coverage of government and political terminology, newspapers, and post-1959 neologisms reflecting the changed circumstances of Tibetans under Chinese rule. This was followed by the English-Tibetan Dictionary of Modern Tibetan with Ngawangthondup Narkyid, first published by the University of California Press in 1984, and later in a revised edition with Tibetan script by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in 1999. This immediately became, and has remained, the standard English to Tibetan dictionary in the field. While other such works have appeared, none possess the accuracy, consistency, and wealth of sentences for illustration.

With the publication of The New Tibetan-English Dictionary of Modern Tibetan by the University of California Press, Goldstein's work has culminated in a landmark dictionary of over 80,000 entries and 1195 pages. Simply put, this new edition is the best English language dictionary available for reference for modern literary Tibetan and spoken Central Tibetan. The dictionary's format is that head terms are provided in Tibetan script, followed by a phonetic transcription in parentheses, the grammatical type indicated by abbreviations, definition(s) and then illustrative sentences in Tibetan script with English translations to demonstrate usage. The illustrative sentences are particularly extensive in number and highly authentic, such that they constitute an invaluable contribution in and of themselves.

Goldstein's dictionary represents a major expansion of his previous work through drawing extensively from modern publications ranging from newspapers, magazines, novels, folktales, histories, and biographies. It thus offers the best documentation available of the sprawl of new neologisms, loan words, and contemporary revisions of traditional vocabulary that have dominated the secular literary landscape of Tibetan culture. It is indispensable for reading pos T-1959 Tibetan newspapers, academic writing, creative fiction and other secular literary products. It often is the only reliable source for understanding new technical terminology. However, it also offers an outstanding resource for spoken Tibetan in the Lhasan dialect, a modified form of which has increasingly emerged as a proto-standard across Tibetan communities (though still with relatively limited extension in Eastern Tibet). As such, and with its detailed coverage of everyday social terminology including proverbs and sayings, just like its predecessor it also constitutes a valuable lexical resource for reading narrative types of classical literature, such as the huge body of biographies, histories and other such literature. Finally, special note should be made of its coverage of "government language" (gzhung yig) utilized in pre-1959 Tibetan government documents, based upon the detailed analysis of handwritten government manuscripts.

There are, of course, clear limits to the dictionary's coverage as indicated by the author himself. The dictionary in no way attempts to be adequate for classical literary Tibetan, and its coverage of technical terminology does not extend to common philosophical and religious vocabulary that permeate classical literature. For these materials, other dictionaries are required, such as the contemporary Tibetan-Tibetan-Chinese Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo ( General editor, Krang dbyi sun (1993), Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang). Its coverage of spoken Tibetan is limited to Lhasan/standard forms, and is not adequate for spoken dialects elsewhere in cultural Tibet, nor for their influence on the rise of more vernacular forms of modern literature in the corresponding regions. Thus while the dictionary's detailed coverage of modern neologisms is relevant across the vast extent of cultural Tibet, there are modern forms of literature based upon non-standard dialects which point to important tasks for new generations of lexicographers of modern literary Tibetan.

Because of its pioneering character, there are some not unsurprising gaps. A fair amount of standard terms found in modern Tibetan are omitted, or when given, do not clearly provide definitions for common patterns of usage. In addition, the definitions are in general brief; this comes as a welcome relief to the sprawl of some other English-language dictionaries of Tibetan, but at times fails to give enough context to understand precisely how the term is used in modern Tibetan. In addition, given the great number of new neologisms documented and the way in which Tibetan syllables tend to have relevant etymological meanings, it is unfortunate that there is no attempt to explain the etymological roots of terms by simply giving the root meaning of each syllable. Such simple etymological analysis can be of great use in helping researchers unpack the distinctive semantic field of the term, and how families of such terms are formed around the use of specific syllables. It would also be helpful to have Chinese equivalents added, especially since so many of the modern terms are straight neologisms fashioned direct from modern Chinese. There are also some editorial problems with cross-references that are circular in character, or even missing altogether. To his credit, Professor Goldstein has begun posting additions and corrections with regular updates promised at http://www.cwru.edu/affil/tibet/ (to go directly to the addendum, use: http://www.cwru.edu/affil/tibet/addendum-new.pdf). One might argue that this points to the importance of new digital technologies as a mode of delivery for dictionaries, especially those in such pioneering areas.

These are minor caveats, however, for a monumental contribution that will benefit researchers in many fields for years to come. One can only hope that younger lexicographers will be inspired to continue the impressive scope and quality of Professor Goldstein's contributions.