Konkani-English-Kannada dictionary release on Dec 20

A Konkani-Konkani-English-Kannada dictionary will be released at St Anthony Charitable Institutes, Jeppu, on December 20.

Mangaluru Diocese Bishop Rev Dr Peter Paul Saldanha will release the dictionary, said the dictionary’s editor Prof Stephen Quadros.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said Konkani is the official language in Goa, and one of the official languages of India. According to the 2001 census of India, there are 25 lakh Konkani speaking people in India.

He said Fr Angelo Xavier Maffei, a Jesuit priest, did the pioneering work of compiling the first English-Konkani dictionary in 1883. It was printed at the Basel Mission Printing Press, Mangaluru.

Fr Maffei also came out with a Konkani-English Dictionary later. After Maffei, one of the significant works has been ‘Konkani English Shabd Sangraha’ by Mgr Sylvester Menezes. Later, Anthony Saldanha compiled a Konkani dictionary. In the year 2004, Fr Valerian Fernandes compiled a Konkani-English dictionary.

“In 2007, I came out with a pioneering English-Konkani dictionary in Kannada script. Over 25,000 English words were given their Konkani equivalents in the dictionary. In the year 2014, 50,000 words were added to it.”

Apart from synonyms, the Konkani–Konkani–English–Kannada dictionary gives gender, tense, common form and cases of a term and other grammatical explanations. Homonyms and antonyms are also provided wherever applicable.

He said “Welcome 2 Konkani” (select vocabulary) will also be released on the occasion. This work will give the Konkani equivalents for English words. The work has been compiled by Prof Stephen Quadros and Dr Alwyn D’Sa.