DUNCAN Forbes (1798-1868) was a Scottish scholar of oriental languages and literature. Though Forbes penned a number of works on Urdu, Persian, Arabic and Bengali, his better known books are Urdu-English dictionary and English translation of Bagh-o-Bahar.
His dictionary titled A Dictionary: Hindustani and English, first published in 1848, was a milestone in the history of early Urdu lexicography which is dotted with such works as Urdu-English dictionaries by John Gilchrist (1759-1841) and John Shakespeare (1774-1858). Later on, Urdu-English dictionaries by S.W. Fallon (1817-1880) and John T. Platts (1830-1904) carried on the tradition.
It would not be out of place to mention here that many European scholars used the word ‘Hindustani’ for the language spoken in Northern India in those days. Today, some say that by ‘Hindustani’ these European scholars meant a language that included both Urdu and Hindi. But it is a fact that some books published in British India used the word Hindustani to denote Urdu. A book, for instance, written by John T, Platts and first published in 1874 is titled A Grammar of the Hindustani or Urdu language. It simply means that by Hindustani they meant Urdu and Hindi was a separate language.
So, Forbes’ dictionary, named Hindustani-English Dictionary, is an Urdu-English dictionary, as is evident by the fact that it enlists the words in Urdu script, which is a modified version of Perso-Arabic script with some letters added to the alphabet to represent the sounds that do not occur in Persian and Arabic, but exist in Urdu. The Hindi language, as we know, was and is still written in Devanagari script. But Forbes has taken full care of Hindi words that are very much part of Urdu and has mentioned them in Devanagari script in addition to the Urdu (Perso-Arabic) script. The pronunciation of each and every entry is given in Roman script as well.
The first edition of this dictionary, published from London in 1848, is rare. Even the second edition, published in 1866 from London, is hard to come by. Luckily, a few years ago this writer was able to buy a tattered copy of the second edition of Forbes’ dictionary from a roadside bookseller in Karachi’s Saddar area where old books are sold on Sundays. At the back of the book, Crosby Lockwood and Sons, the publishers, have annexed a list of the books published by them. The list also includes books in “Hindustani, Hindi, etc.”, which simply means Hindustani and Hindi were considered two separate languages.
A notable feature of Forbes’ Urdu-English dictionary is that it is two-way English and Urdu dictionary, which means it serves as an English-Urdu dictionary as well since a portion of the book enlists English words with their Urdu equivalents. But this portion has little over 300 pages while Urdu-English dictionary has about 800 pages. Commenting on Forbes’ dictionary, Moulvi Abdul Haq has appreciated the fact that Forbes has added a lot more words and synonyms as compared to his predecessors. This dictionary was reprinted from India in 1968, a facsimile of the second edition. Lahore’s Sang-i-Meel published it in 2002.
C.E. Buckland in his Dictionary of Indian Biography has given a brief life sketch of Duncan Forbes. Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) has given some details. According to Buckland and the DNB, Duncan Forbes was born into a poor family on April 28, 1798, in Kinnaird, in Perthshire, Scotland. Forbes’ parents left for the USA in 1801 and consigned him to the care of his paternal grandfather. Forbes had scanty schooling and knew no English till the age of 13. But through sheer intelligence and hard work he became a teacher at a school at 17. Forbes did MA in 1823 from St. Andrews University. Forbes arrived at Calcutta (now Kolkata) in November 1823 to join the newly established Calcutta Academy. But he had to return to England in early 1826 due to ill health. In 1826, Forbes became an assistant to John Gilchrist, the famous orientalist.
In 1837, Forbes was appointed a professor of oriental languages at King’s College, London. He was also employed by the British Museum to prepare a catalogue of the Persian manuscripts and was awarded an honorary LL.D in 1847 from the University of St. Andrews.
Duncan Forbes wrote a number of manuals in oriental languages, grammars and dictionaries and edited or translated some classical texts. More famous is his text of Bagh-o-Bahar (1846) --- a classical work in Urdu prose by Mir Amman --- with a glossary of difficult words. In 1862, he translated Bagh-o-Bahar into English. He prepared an Urdu text of Tota Kahani in 1852. Forbes had also collaborated with John T. Platts to translate into English Baitaal Pachchisi, a classical tale originally written in Sanskrit. His other books include The Hindustani Manual (1845), A Grammar of Hindustani Language (1846), A Smaller Hindustani and English Dictionary (1861), A Grammar of the Bengali Language (1861) and The Adventures of Hatim Tai (1830).
Forbes is one of the orientalists who contributed towards the development of Urdu lexicography in an era when it was in its early stages.
Duncan Forbes died on Aug 17, 1868.
Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2020
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