''Myanmar–English Dictionary'' ( my, မြန်မာ-အင်္ဂလိပ်အဘိဓာန်) is a modern Government project in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(formerly Burma), first published in 1993 by the

Government of Myanmar Myanmar ( also known as Burma) operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. Po ...

Myanmar Language Commission The Myanmar Language Commission ( my, မြန်မာစာအဖွဲ့; formerly Burmese Language Commission; abbreviated MLC) is the pre-eminent government body on matters pertaining to the Burmese language.E. Ulrich Kratz Southeast Asia ...

. It is a guide dictionary for translating between English and the

Myanmar Language Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the countr ...

. It was written by the members of the Myanmar Language Commission and the two Myanmar–English Dictionary Work Committees who participated in the compilation of this dictionary.

Myanmar–English Dictionary Work Committee (1)

#U Ba Nyunt, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Chairman (deceased) #U Htin Gyi, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member #

Daw Kyan Kyan ( my, ကြန်, ; 1 July 1918 – 16 November 2019), known honorifically as Daw Kyan ( my, ဒေါ်ကြန်, ), was a Burmese historian and writer who specialized in the history of Burma under British colony. She received two c ...

, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member #Dr.Than Htun, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member #U Thaw Kaung, Librarian, Universities' Library, Member #U Thi Ha, Retired Professor of English, Member #Staff members, Department of the Myanmar Language Commission

Myanmar–English Dictionary Work Committee (2)

#Hla Shwe, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Chairman #Htin Fatt, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member #Daw Myint Than, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member #Than Htut, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member #Win Pe, Member of the Myanmar Language Commission, Member #Hla Mae, Retired Lecturer in English, Member #Hpwa Yin, Retired Lecturer in English, Member #Khin Kyi Kyi, Retired Lecturer in English, Member #Khin Mae, Retired Lecturer in English, Member #Ko Ko, Retired Secretary, Myanmar Red Cross Society, Member (deceased) #Myint Kyi "Tekkatho Myat Soe", Member #Staff members, Department of the Myanmar Language Commission

History of the earlier Burmese–English dictionaries

Judson's dictionary

The first Burmese–English dictionary compiled by

Adoniram Judson Adoniram Judson (August 9, 1788 – April 12, 1850) was an American Congregationalist and later Particular Baptist missionary, who served in Burma for almost forty years. At the age of 25, Judson was sent from North America to preach in Bu ...

appeared in 1826 and later in 1849 the second edition was published, which was better and more complete than the former edition. But it was enlarged by E.C Stevenson in 1893, with illustrative examples. Another one who made the expanded edition in 1921 was F.H. Eveleth but he removed valuable examples out of it.

A Burmese–English Dictionary

Hla Pe, professor of Burmese at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

(1948–1980), worked with others on the '' A Burmese–English Dictionary'' project, which began in 1925 under the aegis of the

Burma Research Society The Burma Research Society ( my, မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ သုတေသန အသင်း ) was an academic society devoted to historical research of Burma (Myanmar). Its aims were "the investigation and encouragement of Art, Sci ...

, was continued at the

University of Rangoon '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

and then the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ...

(London). This small group completed 6 volumes of the dictionary, each 80 large-format pages, but it remains incomplete. Other participants were J. A. Stewart, C. W. Dunn, J.S. Furnivall,

Gordon H Luce Gordon Hannington Luce was a colonial scholar in Burma. He was born on 20 January 1889 and died on 3 May 1979. His outstanding library containing books, manuscripts, maps and photographs – The Luce Collection – was acquired by the National ...

Charles Duroiselle Charles Duroiselle (1871 - 1951) was a French-born Burmese historian and archaeologist. He was a noted Pali scholar and epigrapher, and published monographs on Mandalay Palace and other related Burmese subjects. Throughout his career, excavated ov ...

, Anna Allott, John Okell and, from the United States, R. Halliday and A. C. Hanna. ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

'' 4th editor

C. T. Onions Charles Talbut Onions (C. T. Onions) (10 September 1873 – 8 January 1965) was an English grammarian and lexicographer and the fourth editor of the ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Life Onions was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, Birming ...

said "A

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...

's life is a dog's life, but a lexicographer generally lives to an old age". This is true of several contributors to these Burmese dictionaries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myanmar-English Dictionary Burmese culture Burmese language Burmese dictionaries English bilingual dictionaries