PROJECTS OF THE IUA

This project was initiated in 1924. Its aim is to present the whole Pali vocabulary, hased on the copious and scholarly collection of materials compiled by V. Trenckner and on the comprehensive collection of lexicographical slips left by W. Geiger, with these being amplified by systematic presentation of excerpts of a number of important or typical texts, belonging mainly to the different strata of later Pali.

That part of the dictionary which comprises the entries with initial vowels was completed in collaboration with scholars from a number of countries, many of whom had visited Copenhagen to familiarize themselves with the working methods established by scholars at Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab. After this, collaboration was initiated between The Royal Danish Academy and the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur of Mainz (Germany), in particular with a view to continuing the work with the compilation of the dictionary part comprising the entries with initial consonants. The compilation of a bibliographical supplement to the dictionary to replace the bibliography of 1948, with this task the responsibility of the German committee, is also envisaged. Other countries have expressed willingness to support the project after the completion of the initial vowels part.

The project was adopted by the UAI in 1958, on the initiative of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, as a Category A project.

Directed by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. Directors L.L. Hammerich 1958-1967, L. Alsdorf 1968-1975, K.R. Norman 1975-1991, Ole Holten Pind 1991-2000, O. von Hinüber 2000, S. Lienhard 2001-