Rigg’s Dictionary Reissued -- 147 Years late

Sundanese Corner News
Written by Hawe Setiawan

BANDUNG---A Dictionary of the Sunda Language of Java by Mr. Jonathan Rigg is reissued, 147 years after its first publication. This classical Sundanese-English dictionary reappears amid the celebration of the 2009 International Mother Tongue Day in Bandung, the capital of West Java province.

Mr. Rigg was a member of the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences. The English planter had lived among Sundanese people of West Java for several years. His dictionary, which is the first Sundanese-English dictionary that has ever been compiled in history, was first published in 1862 by Lange & Co. publishing house at Batavia (now Jakarta).

‘We reissue Rigg’s dictionary along with four contemporary Sundanese literary works in celebrating this historical moment,’ said Mr. Rachmat Taufiq Hidayat this afternoon. Mr. Hidayat is the CEO of Bandung-based Kiblat Buku Utama publishing house that publishes the dictionary in collaboration with Padjadjaran University (UNPAD).

UNPAD rector Dr. Ganjar Kurnia launched the books at his main campus in Bandung today. In the celebration, he also invited some old Sundanese literary figures to recite their Sundanese poems before younger audiences.

Apart from its new cover and colophon, the ‘new edition’ of Mr. Rigg’s dictionary is completely similar with the original one. There is no revision. Even the typography and old pronunciation have left unchanged. The only new thing in its content is an introduction that is written by Mr. Hidayat himself which is also known as a book collector.

'We just reserve the history. We would like to remind Sundanese people to this monumental work,' said Mr. Hidayat.***