Years old, is preserved in the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras. It is invaluable as a guide to the colloquialisms if the 13th and 14th centuries. The words explained were mostly colloquial and the explanations were often in Sanskrit's. Thus, the word 'ata' is explained as 'svacchala prakƒš†kti'('word expressive of one's anger'), a curiosity which has its parallel in the history of English lexicographyalso.¹

The popularity of  alphabetical arrangement led the way to regular dictionaries. An undated cadjan manuscript of a dictionary, probably anterior to Father Beschi's catur-akarƒti, is in existence. Its author is unknown. The title of the work 'Akarƒti-m†‹aikakarƒti-y-etukai'² is a curious experiment in nomenclature and represents an attempt to describe the dictionary order, m†‹ai referring to the initial letters, and etukai to the second letters of the words. Evidently, this work has not advanced beyond the second-letter order. About 7500. terms are found in this small dictionary; and among them are participles like kƒ‹-p†tal-uŠŠƒr and  proper names like Akutai. Common words like ka‰uttu (neck), viral  (finger), teru (street) are not included. The definitions in the work closely follow the language of the nika--us; 'v„ŠŠicaippƒ', for instance, is defined as `சருக்முடிவினும் இலம்பகமுடிவினம் விருத்தநடையது,'(cf.Tivƒkaram, x, 188).

PATTU-C-COL-AKARATI    

There is also another work of interest, Pattu.c-col-akarƒti3, by name. The words in Tivƒkaram, Uriccol-nika--u, Nika--u-c‡-ƒma-i and Nƒmat…Pa-nika--u are indexed alphabetically and given in 10 sections. The first section gives words of one letter, the second, of two ietters, and so on. 

Lexicography had, by now, outgrown the crude from of class-vocabularies; 'memorizing' had given place to 'reference' and the alphabetical arrangement had been slowly evolved, though it had not advanced beyond the second letter of the word. At this stage, foreign influences began to set in. 

With the European merchants, came the missionaries; and the development of Tamil lexicography owes much to the work of these earnest Christians. An intimate knowledge of the Tamil language and the Tamil people was essential for their missionary work; and they settled in small groups in important centers, mixed intimately with the Tamils, and studied their manners and customs, as only strangers could. Tamil literature drew their attention even at the outset, Realizing that printing would greatly help them in their pursuits, they introduced into India the art of printing. The first Tamil

1 Dr.John Bullokar's 'English Expositor'(3rd Edition,1663) contains an index of  'ordinary English' words defined in terms of a more 'scholastick' nature. Ba shful had Verecund as its corresponding learned equivalent; Howling was the same as Ululation. M.M. Mathews: A Survey of English Dictionaries, p. 18.

² Not published

³ Not published