Which dictionary? (quiz)
CDSL has 42 dictionaries — the skill is reaching for the right one. These 18 scenarios test exactly that: reading classical vs Buddhist vs Vedic Sanskrit, composing Sanskrit from English, finding synonyms, identifying plants and proper names, and more. Every answer is grounded in this guide's featured dictionary pages (and the full catalog).
Reading Sanskrit
Quiz · which dictionary to read with
5 questions
You want the broadest classical Sanskrit→English reference, one that also marks Vedic accents. Which dictionary?
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Monier-Williams (MW). MW is the standard general reference — encyclopaedic, rich in compounds and citations, and it marks Vedic accents.You're reading the Mahāvastu and a word — looking like a Sanskritized Pali form — isn't in Monier-Williams. Where next?
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Edgerton BHS. BHS is the specialist dictionary of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit; it indexes the Buddhist canon and triangulates each form against Pali and classical Sanskrit.You want the deepest scholarly treatment with the fullest citations, and German is fine. Which?
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Böhtlingk-Roth (PWG). The Großes Petersburger Wörterbuch (PWG) is the deepest scholarly Sanskrit dictionary; PW is its shorter version, SCH supplements it, CCS distils it.You want clean, numbered senses and translated literary quotations for classical (non-Vedic) reading. Which?
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Apte (AP90). Apte is the classical reader's companion — numbered senses, idioms, and quotations with translations. AP (1957–59) is the larger revised edition.You want a compact, accented student's dictionary to read with — short definitions, accent shown. Which?
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Macdonell (MD). Macdonell's is the compact accented student dictionary; it pairs with his grammars.
Composing Sanskrit / other languages
Quiz · composing (English→Sanskrit)
1 question
You have an English word and need its Sanskrit equivalents — i.e. you're composing Sanskrit. Which?
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Apte English-Sanskrit (AE). AE (and Borooah, BOR) are English→Sanskrit dictionaries for composition — the reverse direction of the reading dictionaries.
Quiz · French, Latin, German glosses
2 questions
You want a modern French gloss. Which dictionary?
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Stchoupak–Renou (STC). STC (1932) is the standard French dictionary; Burnouf (BUR, 1866) is the older French one it superseded.You want Latin glosses and Indo-European cognates by the founder of comparative grammar. Which?
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Bopp Glossarium (BOP). Bopp's Glossarium Sanscritum (1847) glosses in Latin and cites cognates (e.g. Latin axilla for aṃśa).
Specialist look-ups
Names, terms, plants, synonyms — the indexes, glossaries, koshas, and encyclopedias.
Quiz · specialist references
8 questions
You need to identify a Sanskrit plant name botanically. Which resource?
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Sanskrit Names of Plants (SNP). Meulenbeld's SNP maps Sanskrit plant names to their botanical identity with a thorough source apparatus.You meet an administrative/fiscal term in an inscription and need its technical sense. Which?
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Indian Epigraphical Glossary (IEG). Sircar's IEG glosses the technical terms of inscriptions; PGN indexes the personal/place names in Gupta inscriptions.You want to identify and locate a proper name in the Mahābhārata. Which?
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Index to MBh Names (INM). Sörensen's INM is the name-index to the epic; the Mahābhārata Cultural Index (MCI) adds cultural detail.You want the story and identity behind a Purāṇic name, in clear English. Which?
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Puranic Encyclopedia (PE). Mani's PE narrates the stories; the Purāṇa Index (PUI) is the terse locational index to the same material.You want the classical *synonyms* of a word (a thesaurus), in the traditional kośa form. Which?
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Abhidhānacintāmaṇi (ABCH). ABCH (Hemacandra) and Abhidhānaratnamālā (ARMH) are synonym kośas — they group the Sanskrit words for a concept. The big modern kośas are SKD and VCP.You want a name or subject in *Vedic* literature, with scholarly references. Which?
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Vedic Index (VEI). Macdonell & Keith's Vedic Index of Names and Subjects is the standard scholarly index to Vedic realia.You need a root's grammatical profile — conjugation class, seṭ/aniṭ, pada, and its kṛt-derived forms. Which resource?
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Kṛdantarūpamālā (KRM) — a Pāṇinian reference of roots and their kṛt-derived forms (a grammar, not a glossary).You found a word/sense missing from Böhtlingk's shorter dictionary (PW) and want the additions a scholar gathered for it. Which?
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SCH — Schmidt's Nachträge (1928), the German supplement to PW, keyed to its numbered senses.
Historical & editions
Quiz · historical editions
2 questions
You want the *earliest* major Sanskrit-English dictionary, the foundation Monier-Williams built on. Which?
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Wilson (WIL). Wilson (1832) is the first major Sanskrit-English dictionary; MW later built on it.You want to compare how Monier-Williams treated a word in the 1872 first edition vs the 1899 edition. Which two codes?
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MW72 (the 1872 first edition) vs MW (the 1899 enlarged edition) — distinct texts.
See also
- The full catalog of all 42 dictionaries, and the dictionaries overview
- Reading Monier-Williams (with quizzes) — how to read the entries once you've chosen