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. He was the author of the Dehkhoda Dictionary, 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 an ...

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 Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...

. 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 French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. 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 ...

, 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 ...

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. In 1903, he went to the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

as an Iranian embassy employee, but came back to Iran two years later and became involved in the Constitutional Revolution of Iran. Dehkhoda, Mirza Jahangir Khan and Ghasem Khan published the '' 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 Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. 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 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

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the princi ...

's ''De l'esprit des lois'' ('' The Spirit of the Laws'') into 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 '' Loghat-nameh-ye Dehkhoda'' (" Dehkhoda Dictionary"), 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 An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...

''
''Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE'', "Dihkhudā, ʿAlī-Akbar", John R. Perry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehkhoda, Ali Akbar * Iranian Iranologists

Iranian journalists Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian ...

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