All cultures have proverbs that capsulize subjects simply and effectively. Many of these are cross-cultural. For example, according to a Danish proverb, "The greater the fear, the nearer the danger," while a Latin proverb says, "The less there is of fear, the less there is danger." This work includes over 20,000 proverbs from more than 120 languages, nationalities and ethnic groups. The proverbs are arranged under 1,300 headings (e.g., accidents, divided loyalty, marriage, prosperity, shame), and each includes the nationality, group or language in which it originated. Comprehensive keyword and subject indexes allow access to the material in multiple ways.

An indispensable volume written by the director of Ethnology in India, Herbert Risley. It gives a very full and scholarly account concerning the people of India. Chapter one classifies the people according to their physical types; chapter 2 classifies them according to the social types; chapter three is a very amusing section of the proverbs and popular saying of the people about themselves. Chapter four concerns the rituals of caste and marriage; Chapter 5 is on caste and religion, chapter 6 discuss the origins of caste, and chapter 7 notices caste and nationality. At the end are 7 appendices that give information on proverbs, maps of caste, anthropometric data, infant marriage laws, modern theories of caste, Kulin polygamy and the santhal and munda tribes. The book has 35 illustrations. This book is a reprint of the 1915 edition.

This unusual book is a fantastic collection of the rich and beautiful proverbs of Northern India. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Prior to the nineteenth century, South Asian dictionaries, glossaries, and vocabularies reflected a hierarchical vision of nature and human society. By the turn of the twentieth century, the modern dictionary had democratized and politicized language. Compiled "scientifically" through "historical principles," the modern dictionary became a concrete symbol of a nation's arrival on the world stage. Following this phenomenon from the late seventeenth century to the present, Negotiating Languages casts lexicographers as key figures in the political realignment of South Asia under British rule and in the years after independence. Their dictionaries document how a single, mutually intelligible language evolved into two competing registers—Urdu and Hindi—and became associated with contrasting religious and nationalist goals. Each chapter in this volume focuses on a key lexicographical work and its fateful political consequences. Recovering texts by overlooked and even denigrated authors, Negotiating Languages provides insight into the forces that turned intimate speech into a potent nationalist politics, intensifying the passions that partitioned the Indian subcontinent.

Ideal for beginners, this abridged version of William Wright's classic Grammar of the Arabic Language offers students an easy-to-use reference that omits superfluous details but retains the essentials. It also serves, according to the author's plan, as a sort of expanded table of contents for Wright's Grammar.