volume of 185 pagas and was printed in Madras. Its title-page is interesting:

[Fabricius, John Phil., and Breithaupt John Chr.]  தமிழும்  இங்கிலிசுமாயிருக்கிற அகராதி, A Malabar and English Dictionary, wherein the words and phrases of the Tamlian language, commonly called by Europeans the Malabar Language1, are explained in English; by the English Missionaries of Madras. Printed at Wepery, near Madras, in the year MDCCLXXIX. 

This was a very small dictionary2; but it served to direct the enthusiasm of other missionary bodies South India and Jaffna in exploring new methods in Tamil lexicography. About 1833, the American  Mission at Jaffna planned the compilation of a Tamil-English lexicon, an English-Tamil Dictionary and a Tamil Dictionary. The Rev. J. Knight, a Church Missionary at Jaffna, assisted by Mr. Gabriel Tissera and by the Rev. Peter Percival, collected the material for these publications. The work had to be suspended in 1833, owing to the death of the Rev. J. Knight.

THE MANUAL DICTIONARY OF THE TAMIL LANGUAGE (THE JAFFNA DICTIONARY)      

From the material collected, the Manual Dictionary of the Tamil Language was prepared by Pandit Chandraš„khara, a scholar of Jaffna. An appendix was added by V„dagiri Mudaliyar of Ka˜att‡r (Madras).  This dictionary was published by the Rev. Levi Spaulding in 1842 A.D. It is popularity called 'The Jaffna Dictionary' or 'Mƒnippƒy-akarƒti'. Like Beschi's Catur-akarƒti, it also consists of four sections; but it marks a great advance on that work in respect of its word-content. The short introductory note states:

This work, which is now offered to the public, is believed to be the first attempt at a complete dictionary of the Tamil language in alphabetical order. It contains about 58,500 words, being nearly four times as many as are found in the whole  சதுரகராதி,' 

But one way in which the vocabulary had been made up is noteworthy. Instead of collecting words were made from Sanskrit Lexicons like Wilson's Sanskrit Dictionary, without any reference to their actual currency. Very few words in colloquial and local use in the Tamil country proper, had been included. The meanings were, as in Catur-akarƒti editions, arranged in alphabetical order.

ORU-COR-PALA-PORUL-VILAKKAM

Shortly after, i.e., in 1850 A.D., a small Tamil dictionary of 1S6 pages with the title Oru-coŠ-pala-poru˜-vi˜akkam  was published. Its author was A--ƒsƒmi Pillai and it was prepared under the guidance of  Višƒkapperumƒ˜ Aiyar.The scooe of the work was very limited, as it confined itself only to

¹ Students of Malayalam literature will remember that the author of L.lƒ-tilakam calls pure Malayalam by the name 'Pa‰an-Tamil' (Old Tamil).

² A second edition 'revised' and corrected by the Rev. Mr. Poezold, Mr. William Simpson and the Malabar Catechists' was printed at Vepery in 1809.