A Hindi grammar and dictionary, Western style, composed around ...

A Hindi grammar and dictionary, Western style, composed around 1700. A short
report on two manuscripts in Rome and Paris.
A Catholic missionary who is less well known, but nevertheless well worthy of attention, and who
preached in India with a mind also open to the culture of the country, was François-Marie de Tours,
of the French Capuchin Order. His missionary work in India lasted at least twenty years beginning
in the 1680s. His main station was located at the important Moghul commercial town Surat in
Gujarat, on the west coast of India. While fulfilling his commission he also had close ties with other
French missionary stations in India, especially the one at Pondichéry in the southeast, as evidenced
by various records. He is mentioned now and then in written works, mostly passim and in footnotes
to scholarly tracts on wider topics, and most of these references concern two of his many activities
and capacities. 1
This first is, that François-Marie wrote a pamphlet against his Jesuit missionary brothers. This was
printed in 1704 through by Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (henceforward CPF), the
institution in Rome responsible for sending Catholic missionaries to different parts of the world. At
that time there had been a flare-up of the long-standing conflict between various groups of
missionaries in India concerning the extent to which the Christians could adapt to the native
customs, and the issue concerned the debate on the so called Malabar rites. The pamphlet criticizing
some of the Jesuit practices in pursuing missionary work was presented by François-Marie himself
to the CPF in 1703.
The second project was one that he independently proposed to the Congregatio during his same visit
to Rome, namely that three new missions should be established in India: one as an extension of the
one in Gujarat and Sindh, one in Bijapur and Golconda and one in Tibet. The two proposed
missionary assignments to "Gujarat e Sindh, l'altra a Bijapur e Golconda" never came about, only
the third one to Tibet was approved by the Holy See. The Capuchin order was commissioned for the
task and it was decided that Lhasa would be made a branch of the mission in Chandernagore. The
result was that François-Marie 2 was appointed to the group charged with fulfilling this commission.
Certain documents concerning this project are available, including letters he wrote himself, and
from the records it is well known that this enterprise was, in spite of the loss of many members of
the original expedition, successfully accomplished by François-Marie and an Italian Capuchin
brother Giuseppe da Ascoli. 3 We also know that this enterprise was François-Marie's final
undertaking, since he died in 1709 in Patna on his way back to Surat.
1
His activities are recorded in various archives of the Catholic mission in Rome; available, unpublished records of the
kind date back to around the shift from the 17th to the 18th century. For a further more detailed survey of the records,
see forthcoming works by Paolo Aranha.
2
"der unternehmungslustige P. François-Marie de Tours." A. Jann, Die katholischen Missionen in Indien, China und
Japan. Paderborn 1955, p. 387 etc.
3
The enterprise is well documented in detail as far as the sources allowed him by Luciano Petech, Il nuovo Ramusio, II,
I missionari italiani nel Tibet e nel Nepal, Parte I, I cappuccini Marchigiani, Roma 1952.
1

Apart from these two activities François-Marie de Tours deserves to be recognized for yet another
activity of great importance that has practically been neglected, even though it was recorded in the
Acta of the Congregatio as presented by him in Rome He undertook an ambitious linguistic
enterprise, the results of which are only sparsely mentioned in some surveys from the 18th century,
while in more recent times this third qualification of his is briefly stated in the major work by
Luciano Petech about the Tibetan mission, especially the Italian one. 4
Ma oltre a questo scopo, per quale egli era stato inviato in Europa, egli ne perseguiva altri due. L'uno
era che la Congregazione si assumesse l'onere di far stampare una grammatica e due dizionari
hindustani da lui complilati; egli non riuscì nell'intento ed i suoi manoscritti rimasero nella Biblioteca
di Propaganda, dove esistevano ancora nel 1792; oggi se ne son perdute le tracce.
Together with other evidence it can be clearly be established that François-Marie was a dedicated,
active, and rather prolific linguist. Apart from his interest in Indian languages there are some as yet
unconfirmed hints that he knew Arabic and Persian. He is told to have acted as an interpreter of
these languages, presumably skilled, since his first posts as a missionary are reported as having
been in Diyarbakir and Persepolis. His skill and experience in linguistic matters is furthermore
indicated by the fact that during his rather brief stay in Tibet he worked together with Ascoli on
both a grammar and a dictionary of Tibetan. 5 In a letter in his own hand sent from Lhasa in 1708 he
also mentions that in Tibet he uses "la lingua indiana, la lingua turchesca ci puol'anco ben servire
tra li Kalmaks, che sono li Tartari" 6 .
The most impressive works by his hand, however, have not been edited, namely those mentioned by
Petech as being lost: an extensive grammar and a major dictionary of Hindi, both completed in
Surat in 1704, and which he himself testifies in his presentation to the Congregatio in Rome that he
had worked on during his twenty years of missionary service in India.
Such manuscripts written in his own hand actually are mentioned from time to time in scholarly
tracts over the centuries, and as late as the 1790s are described as really existing, but later only as
recorded in the minutes of the CPF. It is the existence of a dictionary that has repeatedly been
alluded to in scholarly literature; while the grammar, as an independent work, seems to have been
forgotten as early as the beginning of the 18th century.
Reliable as he is, Luciano Petech, the scholar quoted above, must nevertheless be contradicted
today. Now, 300 years later, it is possible to reunite the entire work on Hindi language written by
François-Marie. Two manuscripts in different locations are clearly two separate, but linked works
by his hand, one grammar and one dictionary, the latter in two parts, of Hindi, authentic as they
4 Petech 1952, Introduzione, p. XXXV.
5 Petech, pp.XCI-XCII. The dictionary based on Latin vocabulary was later completed by P. Domenico da Fano, the
responsible missionary successor to François-Marie in Lhasa, also of the Capuchin order, and was brought to Rome by
him in 1714. It is clearly the first European lexical work on Tibetan. It was stated to be lost until in by Petech (p. XCI)
was confirmed to exist among the Tibetan manuscripts in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Fonds Tibétain 542).
The material it contains was probably used in later printed Tibetan dictionaries. Regarding a Tibetan grammar, only an
introductory grammatical section of the dictionary is mentioned in later sources.
6 Petech, p. 39.
2

existed at the beginning of the 18th century. Both manuscripts, most probably written in François-
Marie's own hand, and both of impressive quality and the greatest scholarly interest, are more than
worthy of being solidly edited and discussed from a great number of perspectives, since they offer a
wealth of new historical and linguistic data of interest for areas including Indology in general, the
history of the Hindi language, Missionary history, and India's relationship to Europe in earlier
times.
The grammar is still located in the Archivio Storico of CPF in Rome. This grammar can certainly
compete with other works claiming to be the first grammar for the Hindi language. I was lucky to
get it under my eyes, having heard from a colleague at Uppsala University that she had seen
something obviously Indian in a composite volume of manuscripts during a visit to the Archive.
What I saw during my March 2011 visit was a Hindi (Hindustani) 7 grammar containing 74 leaves
(148 pages), written in Latin, using Devanagari for Hindi words, and following the form and the
demands of a grammar in the classical tradition common at the time. Thus it must be defined as a
scholarly grammar, fully revealing the linguistic awareness of the author, and containing both
linguistic discussions and a large number of paradigms. For further description of the manuscript,
see Appendix 1.
Since there were clear signs that a Thesaurus had previously been part of the same volume, 8 I made
my efforts to find it mentioned somewhere and in reality. With a vague idea that the author's
background as a French missionary of the Capuchin order from Tours might cause the trail of the
lost dictionary to lead to France, I visited Paris March 2012 to search in archives and libraries. The
very comprehensive library of the Capuchins at Montparnasse was unfortunately short on
manuscripts, due to the Revolution of course. But amazingly, at the Department of Oriental
manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the hoped-for localization of the Thesaurus
became clear!
Habent sua fata libelli! The fate of the Thesaurus has evidently been as follows. At the request of
the well known orientalist Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (1731-1805) the dictionary was
sent in 1784 from the Sancta Sedes in Rome to Paris. Anquetil's own handwritten testimony
describing his intention and the entire event is found in a letter enclosed and pasted into the Paris
manuscript. He tells that he had already spotted the dictionary, or probably a rough copy of it, in
1758 in Surat, while he was there working on his translations of Zoroastrian texts. In the 1780s he
7 At present I leave out the terminological discussion on the designation of the language that also held other
contemporary names. In it Hindi it does not necessary at the outset to account for the varieties and the nuances of the
name of the language, nether in the empirical nor in the scholarly tradition. It is used as a catchall term e.g. by Tej
K.Bhatia whose work in the Handdbuch der Orientalistik from 19877 on the subject is entitled A History of the
Hindi Grammatical Tradition, with the subtitle Hindi-Hindustani Grammar, Grammarians, History and Problems.
8 At the bottom of p. 35v (older hand-written pagination), as a catch-word for the following page, the manuscript in
Archivio Storico has THESAV, which is not what follows in the volume. It also seems clear from a noticeable gap
between the pages that some pages have been removed. In the following regular grammar, in the volume at CPF's
archive, the hand-written pagination starts anew, but the sequence of the pagination with stamped figures does not,
which proves that the pages are stamped after the removal of the dictionary. See also the description of the manuscripts
in Appendix 1.
3

came across a reference, 9 pointing to the existence of such a dictionary in the Archives of CPF; he
presumed that this was precisely the one he had seen in Surat. Anquetil, who deeply regretted not
having been able to copy the dictionary already in Surat, wrote to the CPF asking for a loan with the
promise to make an edition of the work. The loan was granted from Rome by the Pope. The clerks
at the Archive apparently decided only to send the dictionary to Paris, and probably even removed it
from a then existing volume, as it is still possible to conjecture by the gap in the Rome manuscript.
But the providers in Rome, did not send the supplementary introduction to the dictionary, consisting
of a title page, a very well-written Praefatio (4 pages) and a thorough "grammatical" introduction to
the phonology (15 pages). This introduction was never known by Anquetil-Duperron and, as he
tells in his letter, lacking an aid for the reader he found it necessary himself to add a short
introduction on the alphabet to the dictionary in the condition he received it from Rome.
By now it is necessary to reunite the grammatical introduction in Rome with the dictionary in Paris
in order to do credit to François-Marie of the whole work. The fact is, Anquetil-Duperron neither
made an edition of the dictionary, seemingly the loan was not returned. 10 Anquetil did however
make a copy of the entire dictionary, which is now available (MS 839) together with the original
(MS 840) in the collection of Oriental manuscripts at Bibliothèque Nationale de France. He clearly
made the copy as a preparation for printing, an intention that is mentioned in some of his
biographies. It is also recorded that his long-standing plan to publish the dictionary collapsed due to
a conflict with his publisher in his final years.
Thanks to the detailed account written by Anquetil himself, the story of the dictionary - which also
accounts for some changes he made in the text - is clear up to 1784, but many points must be further
investigated for the time following, especially if the manuscript was not returned to Rome or not. 11
It might be mentioned that Anquetil does not seem to have been very interested in the question of
the author's identity and circumstances. Nevertheless, even his copy of the dictionary includes at the
end a rescript of a concluding, probably original document from the original manuscript: a survey in
Italian comprising two pages about the "Autore, e Scrittore del presente Libro". It is dated 5 July
1704 and undersigned by C.A. Fabronus, secretary of the Congregation as received by Franciscus
Maria (all by the same hand). On the same leaf a short note has been added, dated 1771, written by
the secretary Stefanus Borgia, stating that the dictionary was revised that year by P. Cassiano di
Macerata, Capuchin missionary in Tibet.
9 The reference was made in 1771 in a preface to a publication by Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide about the
typography of Indian alphabets: J.C. Amadutius, Alphabetum Brammhanorum.
10 It has been indicated to me that a suggestion soon will be published that it really was returned but made its way back
to Paris as part of the Secret Archive of the Vatican as confiscated by Napoleon in 1810. If this interesting hypothesis is
well-founded it must also be noted that the dictionary belonged to the part of the Archive that was restored 1814 at the
defeat of Napoleon.
11 A special notice in a publication from 1792, tells that it was available in Rome after 1784. See Paulinus a S.
Bartholomeo, Examen historico-criticum codicum Indicorum Bibliothecæ Sacræ Congregationis de Propaganda Fide,
Rome 1792, pp. 57-60. There is also a note requiring further investigation that states that at some time the volume
belonged to the German orientalist J. Klaproth (1783-1835, residing in Paris from 1815). It is on a label at the beginning
of the original MS 840.
4

The presentation of these two manuscripts of greatest value touches on at general issue that
deserves discussion. Any claim about a product created by human beings that it is the "first" of its
kind is fraught with risk. In general, such an argument could always be labelled an argumentum e
silentio. Furthermore the definition of any item has to be carefully qualified. In this case it is
necessary to clearly determine which of many types of grammars and dictionaries are meant. 12 How
to label written texts, whether they take the form of manuscripts or published texts, must also be
taken into account before relating them to others in any respect, including their place in a historical
sequence. The setting of the texts must also be evaluated with reference to their later impact.
At this point no claims will be made as to the position within a time-line of the manuscripts
presented here beyond the statement already made that two very valuable and original manuscripts
are available for an edition. Belonging as they do to an early period in the history of the Hindi
language, they are worthy of close attention by indological scholars.
12 A cursory glance makes it clear that the grammar presented here and the recently rediscovered grammar by J.J.
Ketelaar, a merchant in Dutch service who was stationed in the same part of India at about the same time as François-
Marie, that the two grammars definitely are not of the same type. Bhatia, Tej & Kazuhiko, Machida, The oldest
[European] Grammar of Hindustani Language. Contact and Colonial Legacy. 3 vol. Tokyo (Tokyo University) 2009.
Cf. http://bc.library.uu.nl/node/180. François-Marie's grammar was written by a monk schooled in the tradition of
Donatus, and his dictionary contains only semantic information, in a tradition of Thesauri still living today in modern
lexical works. Ketelaar's grammar could just as well be defined as a linguistic handbook for practical use, and it follows
a certain lexical tradition of grammars. When it comes to studying the Hindustani language of their time, the two works
will certainly be complementary to each other.
5

Appendix 1
A page-by-page description of the contents of the two manuscripts, a Hindi grammar and a Hindi
dictionary, available in Rome and Paris respectively.
THE ROME MANUSCRIPT
The manuscript found in the Archive of the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide forms part of a volume of
manuscripts labelled as Vol XII Miscellanea, in which the leaves are continuously numbered with a stamp as
302-399 on the recto-side of each leaf. 1 Most pages of the part presented here also have a handwritten
number on each individual page, probably in the hand of the original scribe; when such numbers are missing
it seems to indicate that the work was not quite finished. 2 The preceding and following pages in the volume
of manuscripts contain mixed texts. These are mainly letters, mostly in Latin, and some material in Italian. It
can be mentioned that the pages stamped 425-465 contain outlines of various alphabets.
Primarily the earlier, individual numbering of each page evidences that it is a question of two more or less
separate works; but there are other indications as well. The manuscript should therefore rightly be treated as
two separate works as follows.
1) After the title page with Devanagari characters 3 there follow 16 leaves containing an introduction and an
exhaustive exposition of the writing under a heading indicating that this is the initial part of an Indian
grammar. These leaves are stamped with the numbers 306-321, but are also numbered by hand with the
individual numbers 5-36. On the last one (page 36 = 321v), a catch-word at the bottom of the page (with the
text THESAV) indicates that something else will follow than what is now at hand, is titled "Grammatica
Mogolana". 4
2) Hereafter follow 4 unnumbered leaves, two simply containing written titles in Latin, the reverses of them
being blank. The older handwritten pagination (74 leaves stamped with the numbers 326v-399v) runs from 1
to 119, after which follow 25 more unnumbered pages with clearly related content (obviously meant to be
numbered 120-144).
It is clear that the first part, no. 1, was intended to "grammatically" introduce the missing dictionary, while
the second part, no. 2, is an independent, more or less complete grammar. Henceforward these two items will
be referred to as MS 1 Rome and MS 2 Rome respectively.
1
See Kowalsky, N. & Metzler, J., Inventory of the Historical Archives of the Congregation for the Evangelization of
Peoples or "De Propaganda Fide". Roma (3. ed.) 1988. More precisely this volume of Miscellanea is, according to the
inventory, part II of the volumes Miscellanee Pastrizio, Kowalsky & Metzler p. 76. In the following description of the
MS the stamped numbering will be used together with the notation r (recto) and v (verso) respectively.
2
The handwritten numbering seems to be 1-35, followed by 1-119 (144), see below.
3
Illustration A.
4
The sequence of pages originally numbered by hand will most probably confirm that the Thesaurus initially had its
proper place in the obvious gap, which is not marked by the later numbering of the pages by stamp; at present an
ordered digital copy of the Thesaurus in Paris has been ordered but is not yet available to me. The kind and the size of
paper will also be compared.

MS 1 Rome (302-321,the introduction to the Thesaurus) is written on a rather stiff paper, of somewhat larger
size than the following part, with thin margins drawn on the pages; the writing is easily legible, almost block
letters.
MS 2 Rome (322-400, the regular grammar) is written on thinner paper of smaller size than the preceding
part of the manuscript, with powerfully drawn margins (sometimes cutting through the paper); the writing is
in a swifter cursive style.
MS 1 Rome
Grammatical introduction to the THESAURUS (301 -321, old, handwritten pagination [1]-36)
1) The (unnumbered) title page is written in Devanagari (with a certain presumably local variation of the
characters, but quite in accordance with the characters used in the following pages when analysing the
alphabet).
This page needs further analysis, but so far it is obvious that after the introductory invocation to the Lord (srī
khodāhkā nāṁsaṁ) the contents of the following work are indicated as comprising a thesaurus (khajāna),
grammar (āvyākaraṇa) and writing (lekhaṇa). The name of the author is given in the line before IHS MA
and the date (the year 1703 barsamhe) in the following line.
2) There follows a preface by the author describing the coming into being of the grammar and the dictionary
as well as the scope of the work (306r-307v, old pagination 5-8) under the heading:
In Thesaurum Linguae Indianae seu Mogolanae
Praefatio

3) The grammatical survey that follows (308r-318v, old pagination 9-35), which is limited to the alphabet
and pronunciation, is introduced by a second preface (308r-v, old pagination 9-11) about the languages of
India and the usefulness of the work. 5
See appendix 2 for the Latin text and a translation
In Grammaticam Indianam Praefatio
4) The main grammatical part of the introduction to the Thesaurus itself (309r-317v) is divided into ten
chapters followed by a table of the alphabet, all of which come under the subtitle:
Indianae Grammatices Pars Prima 6 .
De Litterarum Caracteribus. Caput I (309r-310v)
De Litteris in generali. Caput II (310v-311r)
De Pronuntiatione Litterarum in coi (communi). Caput III (311r-311v)
De pronuntiatione Litterarum in particulari. Caput IV (311v-314r)
Comparatio alphabeti Indiani cum Latino. Caput V (314r-314v)
De Litteris Componendis, et Coniugendis. Caput VI (314v-315v)
De Litteræ Anomalæ "r" Scriptione. Caput VII (315v-316r)
De litteris finalibus. Caput VIII (316r)
De Vocalibus, et dyphtongis. Caput IX (316v)
De Syllabis. Caput X (317r-317v)
Tabula Syllabarum Compositarum. (318r-v)
5) A short introductory note to the dictionary follows (320r):
Proemium. Quaedam praenotanda pro Thesauri Indiani majori Illuminatione (320r)
6) A summary table of the alphabet is added:
Tabula Litterarum, earumque vernaculis caracteribus demonstrata diff(erent)ia (320r-321r)
concluded by a "reminder"
Monitum (321r)
The reverse of 321 is empty; at the bottom is written the catch-word THESAV is written, which concludes the
introductory part of the dictionary.
5 This part of the preface bears a very close resemblance to the main preface in the grammar, MS 2 (326r-327v), in
which latter context the table of contents directly follows. The relationship between the two, which are written by
different hands, will certainly give clues about the genesis of the two items, the dictionary and the regular grammar.
6 The first part, entitled pars prima is not followed here by any other partes. It is, however, quite similar throughout to
the first part (stamped pages 332v-346r) of the more complete grammar, Ms 2 Rome, the contents of which are
described below and in which parts 2-5 also follow. The version of this first part of the grammar when used for the
Dictionary is more neatly written, and the language is more consistent than the counter-part, the first Chapter of the
regular Grammar. By copying the first part of the Grammar as introduction to the Dictionary, the author most likely
wanted to stress the affinity of the two works. An evaluation of the relationship between the two similar texts remains to
be done.

MS 2 Rome
The regular grammar (322r-399, old hand-written pagination written on page 1-119 (p. 120-144 pages not
inscribed). Two title pages:
322r
Grãmatica Mogolana
This preliminary title page is simply written, not by the same hand as the main title page in MS 1; the second
title page also seems to be more or less a draft, though probably by the same hand as MS 1:
323r
Grammatica Linguae Indianae Vulgaris sive Mogolanae authore fratre franciso Maria Turonensi
Capucino.
326r The grammar is introduced:
followed directly by (326v-327v)
Miss rio aptico
IHS MARIA
Anno Dni 1704
Ad Benevolum Lectorem
Praefatiuncula
In novam Linguae Indianae seu Mogolanae
Gramaticam breve totius operis Compendium
The text of this part of the introduction is nearly the same as in the introduction to the dictionary 7 .
327v-327v Table of contents
The extensive, not quite completed table of contents refers to the original handwritten page numbers,
beginning with page 14. The headings of the chapters are entered (up to 329r) but the page numbers only
until Pars 3, Cap. 3 ( in the table referred to as page 69).
(327v)
332 v Title page of the grammar
7 See above and Appendix 1.
Index materiae, et Capitum,
quam in hac
Gramatica Indiana continentur
Nova Gramatica
quam Indiani VYĀKARṆ Veakern
dicunt
seu totius Linguae Indinae rudimenta
Pars Prima
De Caracteribus
Caput I

333r-346r The main part of the grammar
Beginning with a short introduction, the chapter contains an extensive survey of the alphabet (333r-346r) and
concludes with a table (344v-346r), quite similar to the one in the MS I introducing the dictionary. The
headings of the openings from 332v to 345r is to the left "grammaticæ Indianæ" and to the right "Pars prima
de litteris."
333r The main heading of this "phonological" section of the grammar
KAKO Cacco seu Kekko
Alphabetum Indicum
seu
Caracteres quibus Indiani pro
Litteris utuntur
After the phonological part of the grammar, a counterpart of the introduction to the Dictionary, there follow
4 more parts of the grammar (347v-398v). The headings of the openings from 346v to 352r are to the left
"grammaticæ Indianæ" and to the right "Pars 2da de declinationibus." In the following such headings occur
only occasionally on the pages.
347v
Pars 2 a
De Declinationibus in Generali
Cap.I
The heading of the openings from 346v to 352r is to the left "grammatiæ Indianæ" and to the right "Pars 2da de
declinationibus." In the following such headings occur only occasionally on the pages.
348r
Prima Declinatio
Cap. 2

350r
351r
353r
353v
356r
361r
363v
366r
Secunda Declinatio
Cap. 3
Declinationes Pronominum
Caput 4.
Pars Tertia
Conjugationes Verborum
Cap. I
Secunda coniugationis Tabula
Cap. 3m
Verborum substantivorum coniugatio
Cap. IV
Prima coniugatio
Cap. V
Secunda coniugatio
Cap. VI
Tertia coniugatio

366v
369v
372r
373r
374r
375v
376r
376v
377r
378r
380r
380v
381v
Cap. VII
Quarta coniugatio
Cap. VIII
Quinta coniugatio
Cap. VIIII
De Derivatione, seu Formatione Verborum ab aliis Verbis
Cap. X
De Formatione Temporum
Cap. XI
De Personarum coniugatione
Cap. XII
Quaedam super predictas coniugationes notanda
Cap. XIII
Sintaxis linguae Indianae
Pars Quarta
De Partibus Orationis
Cap. I
De modis
Cap. 2
De generibus
Cap. 3
De Numero, et Casu
Cap. 4
De modis, temporibus, ac personis verborum atque eorum coniugationibus
Cap. V
De prima Orationis Parte quod est Nomen
de ipsius Divisione
Cap. VI

383r
383v
384r
385r
386r
389v
391r
391v
392v
393v
394v
395r
396v
De derivatione, seu formatione Nominum
Cap. VII
De nomine substantivo, et adiectivo
Cap. VIII
De pronominibus
Cap. VIIII
De Numeris Cardinalibus
Cap. X
Quadrantum et Medietatum Tabula
Cap. X
Notarum numeralium tabula
Cap. XII
De numeri ordinis
Cap. XIII
De participis
Cap. XIIII
De adverbis et prepositionibus
Cap. XV
De negationibus
Cap. XVI
Condordantiarum Regule
Pars V; que est ultima
Concordantium nominum
Cap. I
De comparationis. et superlativus
Cap. 2
De concordantia in regimine verborum
Cap. 3um

The grammar ends here with two empty leaves
De motu, et quiete
Cap. 4um
De Praepositionum regimine
Cap. V

PARIS MANUSCRIPTS
At Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, there are two manuscripts – one original
and one copy – containing the dictionary of Indian language of François-Marie de Tours. They are registered
as MS 839 (Indien 200) and MS 840 (Indien 201). 8 Contrary to the indication in the catalogue by Cabaton,
no. 840 is the original manuscript of which no. 839 is a straight but not very elaborate copy. 9
MS 840 (the original)
Part 1: 1-490, Part 2: 1-242 10 .
The binding is the ordinary off-white library binding of manuscripts without any extra decorations, neither
on the outside or the inside of the cover. On the front flyleaf is written in brown ink
LM/(IVIX or NIX in black ink, indistinct, probably erased)IIIV
Ce livre m'avait
été cédé par M. le Baron de Merian,
le 1re octobre 1826
J H Klaproth
Hindost 25
There follows a letter, witten by Anquetil-Duperron with an account of his obtaining the manuscript and work with it,
four pages beginning:
8
Antoine Cabaton, Catalogue sommaire des manuscrits indiens, indo-chinois et malayo-polynésiens. Paris 1912, p.
127.
9
My contention is founded on different indications. In the copy of Cabaton's catalogue, held by the Department of
Oriental Manuscripts at BNF, there is hand-written note of the same tenor in the margin .
10
The Paris manuscript has only the hand-written original pagination.

The regular dictionary begins with a title page in Latin on an unnumbered recto page; the dictionary pages in
the following have the genuine, original handwritten page numbers.
THESAVRUS 11
LINGVÆ INDIANÆ DE
Latino per proprios caracteres
conscriptæ, atque in altera ex adverso
pagina nostris caracteribus explicatæ,
ad cujus latus ob majorem
eorum, qui latinitatem nesciunt, com-moditatem vernacula Gallorum
lingua omnia explicantur
IHS.MA.
Per F.F.M. Anno MDCCIII
Idest Per F. Franciscum Mam a Tours Mission:um Aptlum Capuccinum. Vide Pag 426 p.2 12
In lieu of the original introduction, not known to him since it was not sent from Rome, Anquetil-Duperron
has added a short survey of the Devanagari alphabet entitled:
ALPHABET INDOUSTAN
du trésor tiré de la langue Indoustanne
The introduction consists of some unnumbered pages. On the first ones the devanagari alphabet is given in
two columns with three subcolumns with the headings respectively
Lettres/Lecture du Trésor/Prononciation donné à Surate en 1759
On a following page the alphabet is listed in three columns, devanagari and transcription, with the headings
11 The obvious target of the catch-word THESAV, MS 1 Rome, p. 321r, see above.
12 In the copy, MS 839 (see below) this title is copied in a simpler form, partly with ordinary handwriting; the reference
at the end is adapted to the copy as "p.420,2e P."

Syllabes/Lettres doubles/Lettres liaison, suspendues
First column = KA etc. (with all vowels)
Second column = characters with r, BRA, KRA, TRA etc.
Third column = DKE, RMAA, TNA, TUNÉ etc.
The vocabulary entries are arranged throughout in four columns per opening, each containing 25 words
(exept for the first and the last openings). The alphabetical order is given by the Latin in the leftmost column;
the second column gives the words in Hindi with Devanagari characters, the two columns on the right page
give the French translation and the transcriptions of the Hindi words (according to French pronunciation)
respectively. In the first part of the Dictionary, but not in the second, some entries are supplemented with the
word written in Arabic/Persian characters in the right margin.

The dictionary contains 2 parts. Each page has original handwritten numbers.
Part 1, pp. 1-489/490
At the end of this part, on p. 490r it is noted
Finis primae partis Thesauri linguae Indianae
Part 2, pp. 1-423/424
begins with an unnumbered title page
P. 1.
SECUNDA/PARS/THESAURI/LINGUAE INDIANAE
Secunda Pars Thesauri/Linguae Indianae
this one with handwritten script; this is probably the original title page, the unnumbered one being added
later
Pp 2-3 is the first opening, pp. 2-3, containing only 19 entries, beginning with "labefacere" and the final
opening, pp. 423-424, contains 11 words, ending with "zona".
P. 424 at the bottom is writtenin bold characters,
FINIS THESAVRI LINGÆ INDIANÆ/PARS SECVNDÆ
P. 425 a separate leaf with the alphabet is pasted here.

Pp. 426-427 contains "Notizia dell'Autore, e Scrittore del presente Libro" with an addition stating that the
Thesaurus has been entrusted to the Congregatio de Propagande Fide, written and sealed by Secretarius
Fabronus 5 July 1704. Another addition follows on the second half-page 427 in a diverging hand, and
contains a note stating that the dictionary has been corrected by P. Cassiano di Macerata Cappuccino, with a
reference to Alphabetum Brammhanicum printed 1771, signed by Stefano Borgia Segretarion, dated 20
Agosto 1771.
MS 839 (the copy of MS 840)
The copy was evidently made by Anquetil-Duperron for the planned printing. This copy is nicely bound in
light coloured leather with golden frames on the front and back and decorated with two French lilies and an
emblem with two interlocked Cs topped by a crown. The insides of the covers are coated with marbled paper
with a golden border. On the spine is printed in gold THESAUROS / LINGUÆ / INDIANÆ. 13
At the front of the volume are 7 empty leaves, and on the back of no. 6 is written:
"vide Exam. histor. critic. Codic. Indic. Bibliot. Congreg. / de prop. fide, auct. S. Paulino a S. Barthol.
carm. discal./ miss.onar. Malabar. (1792. p. 57-60; ubi longa et (? erudita) / in Anquetil diatriba"
Copies of the same letter by Anquetil, and of the table of the alphabet, in the same hand as in MS 840, are
included among the initial pages before the dictionary. The title page, which is copied in a not too careful
writing, is preceded by a page with the following text:
"Copie du Thesaurus linguæ Indianæ, Manuscrite de la Bibliothèque de la Propagande, confié pour 4
mis à M. Anquetil du Perron, par M.S.P. le Pape Pie VI, sous la garantie de M. le Cardinal de Bering
et de M. le Comte de Vergennes. Reçu le 14 avril 1783. Remis à M. le Comte de Vergennes le 12 mars
1784"
To this a short description of the volume is added in brackets.
In the Dictionary the vocabulary entries are all strictly copied from MS 840 but are written with a swifter
script and the lines between the columns are missing. There is a small change in the copied MS regarding the
headings of the columns: at the head of column 2, under a main heading "hindustani" is written "in devanag."
and there is an additional explanation:
in quâcumque significatione usurpentur hae praepositiones sempter per ablativum exprimuntur.
In the first part of this manuscript of the Dictionary are included exactly the same smaller additions (made in another
hand) as in the original MS 840. The words in Arabic/Persian characters (in Part 1) are also copied, and here as well, no
such further additions are found in Part 2.
Part 1 pp. 1/2-487/488
contains the entries in the same setting as in the original MS 840. In the first part of this copy of the
Dictionary are included exactly the same smaller additions (made in another hand) as in the original MS 840.
The words in Arabic/Persian characters are also copied. The final page ends with FINIS. There follows a
minor note:
feuilet ajouté à l'original
13 This fine binding is likely to have contributed to the catalogue, giving it the priority as being the original. The binding
is in need of further examination; it may contribute to our understanding of the historical whereabouts of the dictionary.

Part 2 pp. 1/2-417/418
contains the accurate copy of the second part of MS 480 with no further additions whatsoever. At the end of
the manuscript are included scrap-notes with the corrections that are already noted in the introductory letter
by Anquetil Duperron.

Appendix 2
The Introduction to the grammatical part of the Thesaurus. 1
In grammaticam Indianam Præfatio 2
Tres sunt apud Indiarum incolas usitatae linguae, scientifica scilicet, vulgaris seu
universalis, et gentilitia. 3
Lingua scientifica, quam Bracmanicam vocant Europei, illa est quae apud gentiles in
universa India, sicut apud nos lingua Latina in tota Europa se habet. In ea siquidem
omnes legis eorum libri, scientiae, fabulae, historiae, preces orationesque, ac sacrificia
descripta sunt. Eam pueri Bracmanum filii ordinatissima methodo in modum
grammaticae edocentur. Ipsa scribendi modum ab aliis linguis habet diversum, sibique
paricularem, quam cum aliis quam Bracmanum filiis ediscere non liceat, facile
Bracmanica Europeis vocatur, Bracmanibus vero, aliisque gentilibus Sanscruta nomen
habet.
Lingua vulgaris, seu universalis est illa, quae in vastissimo magni Mogolis, quod late
patet imperio, omnibusque ejus circumquaque viciniis, marisque littoribus usitatur, ita
ut quocumque illarum terrarum, littorumque pervenias, linguam istam, quam etiam
Mogolanam et Indianam vocant, certus sis reperire. Illaque mediante alias, ubi
necessitas aderit, facillime possis ediscere.
Lingua denique genilitia, seu particularis est illa, quam unaquaeque provincia habet
propriam et peculiarem, ideoque lingua gentilitia est multiplex, a provincia, in qua
usitatur, denominationem sumit, paucisque in regionibus intelligitur, unde non nisi per
accidens necessaria esse potest, sed vulgaris Indiana, de qua postea, supplebit.
Cujus idcirco linguae Indianae seu mogalanae usus, cum tanti sit momenti, ut ipsa
facillima sed necessariaque sit via, quae pro missionibus suscipiendis missionarios
conducat methodumque subministret, pro negotiis tractandis mercatores adiuvet, ac pro
itineribus peragendis terrisque perlustrandis, ac peragrandis viatores semper
1 In the beginning of the Thesaurus, there are two præfationes, of which this one is the second (308r-v) In
Grammaticam Indianam Præfatio. The first one is entitled In Thesaurum Linguæ Indianæ seu Mogolanæ
Præfatio; it describes with many humble excuses the author's toils and procedures in his work with the
dictionary, as well as with his grammar; there are some hints about the relation of the two works.
2 A close counterpart to this second introduction to the Thesaurus is found also as the principal introduction to
the Grammatica, with somewhat divergent wordings (326v-327v), entitled In Novam Linguæ Indianæ sev
Mogolanæ Grammaticam breve totius operis Compendium. In this case it is preceded by a shorter more personal
preface (326r-v), Ad Benvolum Lectorem Præfatiuncula.
3 The punctuation and the use of capital letters in the MS is here rendered according to the usage of to-day.

comitetur. Bracmanicam, et gentilitiam relinquentes Indianae seu Mogolanae
inhaerendum, ejusque regulis, ac legibus studendum videtur, ac disserendum.
Quae lingua quamvis sit vulgaris, et fere ab omnibus trita, nihilominus suas non secus
ac nobiliora et principalia idiomata regulas habet, quarum cum aliqualem, Dei favente
gratia, notitiam comparaverim, illam apud me reticere, nec aliis communicare
probitatis et scientiae non ignotae viri haud aequum esse iudicarunt, quin imo ut in
vastas Indiae regiones, ubi tot sunt idolatrae, adeoque pauci vel nulli videntur
missionarii, Evangelio facilior praedicando pateat aditus, me in conscientia stricte
obligari exsistimarunt. O me ter quaterque felicem! Si hoc meo licet modico et
imperfecto conatu missionariis animum addere, et miseris illis gentilibus Evangelicae
fidei lumen procurare possim. Donec pro ista gratia miserandis gentibus obtinenda
innumerae animae manus ad Dominum messis elevant. Dum enixe deprecantes ut in
messaem suam, totque regiones iam albescentes ad messem operarios mittat, idem et
ego repetitis vicibus rogans, ut mittendorum apostolicis laboribus tam in vita quam post
mortem communicare possim, linguae dictae Indianae grammaticam trado, et
communico.
Preface to the Dictionary of the Indian or Moghulian Language
Among the inhabitants of the Indian regions three languages are in use, viz. the scholarly, the
ordinary or the common, and the vernacular.
The scholarly language, which the Europeans call brahmanical, serves the same function for the
pagans in the whole of India as Latin does throughout Europe. In it in fact are written all their
law-books, sciences, tales, histories, prayers and speeches and ritual texts. The Brahmins' young
sons are instructed in it according to a regulated method in the mode of grammar. Having a
deviating manner in writing of its own it may not be learned by any others than the sons of the
Brahmins, it is simply called the Brahmanic [language] by the Europeans, but the Brahmins and
other pagans call it Sanskrit.
The ordinary, or common language is the one that is used in the vast empire of the Great
Moghul,which stretches far and wide, by all its surrounding neighbours, and on the coast, such
that you may be sure to find this language, which they also call the Moghulian and the Indian,
whereever you arrive by land or sea. With its help you can easily learn other [languages] when
necessary.

The vernacular or specific language furthermore is the peculiar [form of speech) of every
province. Thus the vernacular is manifold. It derives its designation from the province in which
it is used and is understood in few regions which is why it only occasionally is required; the
common one – described in what follows – can serve in its stead.
That is why the use of this Indian, or Moghulian, language, in all its details, may be a most easy
and indispensable practicability, supplying a method that may lead the missionaries in their
undertakings of missions, help the merchants in their practising of business and always
accompany wayfarers when following the roads, traversing and wandering through [different]
regions. It seems suitable to leave aside the Brahmanic and the vernacular [languages] and to
keep to the Indian or the Moghulian and study and engage in discourse according to its rules and
laws.
Even if this language is common and used by nearly everyone, it nevertheless has its rules as do
the more refined main languages of which, by Gods helpful grace, I have a certain comparable
aquaintance. Men of virtue and not unnoticed scholarship have judged it improper that I keep
this [knowledge] secret and not communicate it to others. As few or no missionaries are present
in vast areas of India, where there are so many idolworshippers, they consider it my moral
obligation make available a means to more easily preach the Gospel. Oh me, thrice and four
times happy! – if I succeed in my insignificant and incomplete endeavour to give the
missionaries courage and if I can provide these poor pagans with the light of the evangelical
creed. To obtain this grace for the unfortunate people, innumerable souls raise their hands to
God in Holy Mass (alt. for the commissioned ones). As they zealously pray that He may send
workers to His harvest even in regions that already are ripening, and me too at repeated
occasions praying that I in this life as well as after death, may take part in the apostolic toils of
those who shall be sent forth, I hereby bestow and convey a grammar of that which is called the
Indian language.