A Grammar of the Persian Language

1771

Shoults Eb 1771 J

[London: Printed by W. and J. Richardson]

While at Oxford, William Jones, later Sir William (1746–1794), discovered the Arabic manuscripts that were in the Pococke Collection in the Bodleian Library. They were a catalyst for his endeavours in making linguistic connections between Arabic and Persian (Farsi (فارسی), and they fuelled his admiration of poems by the 13th century Persian poet Saʿdī. In 1771, he produced his Grammar of the Persian Language, a ground-breaking work noted for its literary focus. Indeed, it went through several editions, and provided a model that language scholars later followed. Jones later travelled to Calcutta, formed the Asiatick Society of Bengal, and developed a strong interest in Sanskrit.