1849-Present
Judson’s Burmese Dictionary
Dictionary Burma/Myanmar
This compiler grew up having to tote a Merriam-Webster dictionary to school every day and then haul it to class as a part of my physical development and training—it was big and heavy. The book also accompanied me to college and now sits on my desk only to be used 3 or 4 times each year. It is probably 60 years old.
In modern Myanmar today, students at all levels must learn out of the Judson Dictionary compiled and first edited by Adoniram Judson, Jr. This important educational publication spans all religious, gender, ethnic, economic and tribal boundaries. I have an 1893 edition in my library as well as the ninth edition published in 1956. In a fit of nationalism last century, the words “Burma” and “Burmese” have been replaced by the word Myanmar but the preface is still clear for the modern reader and/or writer.
Dr. Adoniram Judson began the work of preparing the present dictionary in May 1842 after having completed the translation of the Bible into Myanmar. He had long resolved never to undertake such a task as the dictionary, but he was repeatedly requested to do so. Despite his aversion to starting such an exacting task, he soon came to consider it very important; he compared it to the build of a causeway, designed to facilitate the transmission of all knowledge, religious and scientific from one people to another. His first intention was to prepare a single dictionary, Myanmar and English, but as he proceeded, he discovered many reasons for preparing a double work, in two parts, the first English and Myanmar and the second Myanmar and English. He hoped to finish the whole in a period of three years, but actually the English and Myanmar part of the dictionary was not completed until the end of 1848.[i]
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[i] Adoniram Judson, Jr., Judson’s English-Myanmar Dictionary (Yangon, Myanmar: Baptist Board of Publications, 1956), p. Preface.