There is often confusion between Dr. Miles Bronson’s dictionary and Hemchandra Barua’s HEMKOSH, so let’s clarify the differences and historical significance of both:
Dr. Miles Bronson's Dictionary (1867)
-
Title: A Dictionary in Assamese and English
-
Author: Dr. Miles Bronson (American Baptist missionary)
-
Published: 1867
-
Language: Assamese to English
-
Significance:
-
First ever compiled Assamese dictionary.
-
Helped preserve Assamese vocabulary during a time when Assamese was being overshadowed by Bengali in colonial administration.
-
Focused mainly on word meanings and vocabulary translation for missionaries and English learners.
-
Hemkosh by Hemchandra Barua (1900, posthumously)
-
Title: Hemkosh
-
Author: Hemchandra Barua (renowned Assamese writer and lexicographer)
-
Published: 1900, after his death, with the help of Cotton College Principal Capt. P.R. Gordon and overseen by Hemchandra Goswami.
-
Language: Purely Assamese
-
Significance:
-
First exhaustive and authoritative Assamese-to-Assamese dictionary based on Sanskrit spellings.
-
Considered the first standard Assamese dictionary.
-
Laid the foundation for modern Assamese lexicography.
-
Used in academics and accepted by scholars and writers as the true literary dictionary.
-