Jorhat, July 4: The fourth and the final volume of the encyclopedic Assamese dictionary, Asomiya Jatiya Abhidhan (Assamese National Dictionary), by Asomiya Jatiya Prakash, will be released on July 7 at JB College auditorium here by writer Homen Borgohain.

The organisation that carried out the ambitious project has claimed that the over-5kg lexicon is the largest book in Assamese, with over 63,000 words spread over 1,700 pages.

The four-volume first monolingual lexicon dictionary will have over two lakh words spoken in the greater Assamese society.

The dictionary’s chief editor, Devabrata Sharma, told reporters here today the last volume would be released on July 7 as on that day in 2002 at the same venue (JB College), the first workshop to discuss the project was held. He said earlier, three volumes of the Abhidhan, released in the last two years, had 1,000 pages each with 50,000 words in each volume.

He said it was a coincidence that the fourth volume of the project was going to be released when printing of the first Assamese book, Dharma Pustak, is completing 200 years. The Pustak was a translation of the New Testament to Assamese by Atmaram Sharma, which was published in 1813.

Sharma said the project was a mammoth and a challenging task for him and his team of 35 people, supported by 32 well-known language experts, who had to carry out comprehensive research to find words dating back to several centuries.

The chief editor said the etymology of each Assamese word and the innumerable surnames used in the state, linking them to their respective communities, have been found.

“We are happy that our effort has created a debate across the state during the process of bringing out all the four volumes. We came across many rare old Assamese books, many of which we have reprinted,” Sharma said.

The books include Rev. Nathan Brown’s Grammatical Notices of the Assamese Language (1848), A Spelling Book and Vocabulary in English, Assamese, Singpho and Naga by Miles Bronson (1839) and Brief Vocabulary in English and Assamese with Rudimentary Exercises by Harriet B.L. Cutter (1841) and revised by S.R. Ward in 1864 and Vocabularies of the Ashami Kamarupa Languages, the third Assamese lexicon written in 1810 by Ruchinath Buragohain, prime minister of the last Ahom King, Purandhar Singha.

He said the organisation had come across information about another six books on Assamese vocabulary written in the middle of 19th and early 20th centuries, the copies of which are with the British Library.

Sharma said another important point that had emerged out from the exercise is that it has been observed from old Assamese books that simple system of spelling in Assamese language was followed in ancient times in place of the complex spelling system followed now.

He said the current system creates a lot of confusion and difficulties in memorising the spellings. Sharma said there was no use of multiple letters for same phoneme (sound unit) and amalgamated letters of the alphabets (juktaxar) in Assamese orthography, and that system should be revived as it will benefit one and all.