Allameh Ali Akbar Dehkhodā ( fa, علی‌اکبر دهخدا; 1879–March 9, 1956) was a prominent

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian linguist and

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 ...

. He was the author of the

Dehkhoda Dictionary The ''Dehkhoda Dictionary'' ( fa, لغت‌نامهٔ دهخدا) is the largest comprehensive Persian encyclopedic dictionary ever published, comprising 200 volumes. It is published by the Tehran University Press (UTP) under the supervision of ...

, the most extensive dictionary of the

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken a ...

published to date.

Biography

Dehkhoda was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

to parents from

Qazvin Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanization, Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Qazvin Province, Province of Qazvin in Iran. ...

. His father, Khan Baba Khan Ghazvini, died when he was only 9 years old. Dehkhoda excelled quickly in

Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and French. He enrolled at the School of

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, which employed, amongst other figures, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Secretary as lecturers. He was also active in politics, and served in the

Majles The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The P ...

as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

from Kerman and

. He also served as Dean of Tehran School of Political Science and later the School of Law of the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

. In 1903, he went to the Balkans as an Iranian embassy employee, but came back to Iran two years later and became involved in the Persian Constitutional Revolution, Constitutional Revolution of Iran. Dehkhoda, Mirza Jahangir Khan and Mirza Jahangir Khan, Ghasem Khan published the ''Mirza Jahangir Khan, Sur-e Esrafil'' newspaper for about two years, until Mohammad Ali Shah disbanded the parliament and banished Dehkhoda and some other liberals into exile in Europe. There he continued publishing articles and editorials, but when Mohammad Ali Shah was deposed in 1911, he returned to the country and became a member of the new Majles, Majlis. He is buried in Ebn-e Babooyeh cemetery in Shahr-e Ray, near Tehran. In his article "First Iranian Scholar who authored the Most Extensive & Comprehensive Farsi Dictionary," Manouchehr Saadat Noury wrote that,

Works

Dehkhoda translated Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Montesquieu's ''De l'esprit des lois'' (''The Spirit of the Laws'') into Persian language, Persian. He has also written ''Amsal o Hekam'' ("Proverbs and Sayings") in four volumes, a French-Persian Dictionary, and other books, but his lexicographic masterpiece is ''Dehkhoda Dictionary, Loghat-nameh-ye Dehkhoda'' ("

"), the largest Persian dictionary ever published, in 15 volumes. Dr. Mohammad Moin accomplished Dehkhoda's unfinished volumes according to Dehkhoda's request after him. Finally the book was published after forty five years of efforts of Dehkhoda.

Notes

External links

ALÈ-AKBAR QAZVÈNÈ ''Dehkhodā'
@ ''Encyclopaedia Iranica''
''Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE'', "Dihkhudā, ʿAlī-Akbar", John R. Perry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehkhoda, Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, * Iranian Iranologists Iranian journalists, Iranian journalists Linguists from Iran Iranian translators Members of the 2nd Iranian Majlis University of Tehran faculty Politicians from Tehran 1879 births 1956 deaths Iranian lexicographers Members of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature Moderate Socialists Party politicians 19th-century Iranian writers 20th-century Iranian politicians 20th-century Iranian writers

Biography

Works

See also

Notes

External links