Preface

In the trip coming back to the national culture “National language”, coming back to Vietnamese language. We meet with a host of research work of foreigners who come to Vietnam or to be specific, these research works are of Western missionaries, priests. Due to the demand of conveying Đạo (moral philosophy), Western missionaries, priests paid so much attention to research on Vietnamese language, Nom and Han script. Since then, meaningful dictionaries in many aspects was formed such as Dictionary A.de. Rhodes (Rome, 1651), Dictionary J.S.Theurel (Ninh Phú, 1877), Dictionary J.F.M Génibrel (Tân Định, 1898), Dictionarium Annamitico – Latinum of J.L.Taberd (Serampore, 1838)… Exploring Vietnamese language, Vietnamese culture if ignore these above mentioned dictionaries is just like ignoring the collection of Nom vocabularies Girolamo Maiorica and author, works in association with other Christianity have both one-sided and disadvantaged. Much less, in fact, these works are the endless efforts of Vietnamese people. They have provided materials, contributive opinions during the process of writing this book (as the case of Philiphe Phan Văn Vinh, later he was conferred as a priest- to the dictionary of Taberd). So, the center for national culture studies proposed to re-print this dictionary with an aim to preserving and promoting the culture identity of Vietnam nation as well as serving the mission of study, discover Vietnamese language “precious asset” of our nation, our People as former President Ho Chi Minh had said.

Từ vị Annam – Latin was first printed in 1838 at the printing house of J. Marshnam (Serampore (Bengale). Following the notes of Louis Malleret enclosed in this printing version. At the seminary of Séminaire des Missions Étrangeres (Du Bac street, Paris), version of “Dictionarium Annamitico – Latium” composed by the bishop of Adran was found. At the end of the publication noted: “This work began in September 1772 and was finished in June of the following year”. At the back sheet of the cover, another note was also found with the following content: “Tự vị Annam – Latinh. Author: MRD Phêroo Joseph Georges Pigneaux, a French – coming from the seminary of Séminaire des Missions Étrangeres and Adran bisho - the representative of Toong toà at Cochinchine, Cambodia and Siam, who passed away on Oct. 9, 1799 (Arch. M.E.Paris.Vol.1060).

According to L. Malleret: “Following the judgment of MGTaboulet, the version of " Dictionarium Annamitico - Latium just a copy, the original was lost in a fire at at the seminary, the Bishop had to migrate to Ca Mau. The text of the oversea missionary society is dated in 1772. Later, according to authors, Bishop Taberd composed the work, with notes by the venerable predecessors left, and the results of this work had been published at publishing house in the J. Marshnam, at Serampore, 1838 (...). When compared to the 1st original book, it is not difficult to realize that (Bishop Taberd) changed little compared to the original work."

Therefore, to go into this text in depth, we need to make a trip to the library of Paris foreign missions society to make an comparisons and verification. Anyway, preliminary information that we accumulated is precious and reliable. First and foremost, this dictionary should be re-printed after nearly two centuries. Here is a Latin proverb says: "Each book has its own destiny." It is totally right in the situation of this dictionary.

This is the reason why in recent years, we find every way to re-print this dictionary. It is not easy to find the original and trustworthy version. After many time to search for in old book shops or private families, we have realized that Taberd versions are too old and ragged. Meanwhile, the arrangement of Nom script and especially is La Tinh language is extremely hard because we all have no fluency in La Tinh language. To capture this book, it is essential to have a high quality copy version. Fortunately, “Ancestors or pre- persons support us”. He is Phan Lac Tu Chi, a person who has passion for ancient things and keeps many valuable books. He came to our center and donated us the original version of Taberd dictionary as a gift. However, we discovered that the first part of this dictionary is lacked with the explanation by La Tinh language. Mr Nguyễn Đức Quý – a researcher of Nom at the USA (that we know through Prof. Nguyễn Quảng Tuân, Member of science association) was enthusiastic to help us by keeping in touch with his friends at the USA and France to find out the missing parts as well as find out the notes of L. Malleret which was printed originally in the Journal Asiatique, 3e serie, Ĩ, 1940). Dr.Trần Văn Toàn (Paris), Dr. Phan Đình Cho (Washington D.C) also helped us so much in the process of reprinting. Mr Mai Bá Triều, residing in Begium provided us with a map “Annam đại quốc hoạ đồ” that our original version did not have. We would like to express sincere thanks to the enthusiasm of all of you. At the end of this book, we also printed an article written by Prof. Trần Văn Toàn together with the article of L. Malleret translated by Mr Nguyễn Đức Quý as a source of reference. We would like to express felt-heart thanks to the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation (VNPF) which is co-founded by Prof. John Balaban and Dr. Ngô Thanh Nhàn from the USA) have pre-ordered 200 copies and create favourable conditions for us in publishing.

Anamitico – Latium dictionary keeps a special value in the national culture, especially in the domain of research, explore the treasure of Vietnamese language with a lot of old words recorded in both Nom script and Vietnamese language (notes written in Latin language are very precious, but less popular). Nowadays, we focus on the history of Vietnamese language, the history of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar through the ups and downs, influence and development. We are pleased to witness the contribution of the researchers, writers, scientists in turning it into a rich and beautiful language with various thoughts. However, in parallel with preserving and developing Vietnamese language and preventing it from degenerating, it is our duty to make it purer/brighter, richer in language. To do this, it requires in depth studies including the inheritance of past achievements. This dictionary was compiled in the last 18th century (1772-1773), and published in the early 19th century (1838), recording so many Vietnamese words for us to ponder and make comparison. Also, what really concerns our is valuable Nom characters recorded at that time, they contain a lot of precious value in many aspects (not only narrow the development history of the script, but also for our understanding of phonetics, vocabulary). This is a precious treasure of the past, of history. Once, the researchers, people who have passion for Vietnamese language or persons who want to understand more about the past of Vietname have this dictionary in their hands. It is certainly that they will promote all its value. Taberd dictionary is pleased to introduce the readers.

Mai Quốc Liên
Literature. Prof. Dr
Director of Center for National Culture Studies