Skip to Main Content

Near Eastern and Islamic Studies

Research Tools and Skills

This page is a quick resource page to find information on research skills and on basic tools and support. Here you will find:

  • Transliteration and Romanization
  • Calendars and Date Conversion
  • Selected Dictionaries and Reference Sources
  • Digital Organization Tools and Directories

Academic Transliteration and Romanization in Library Catalogs*

Calendars and Date Conversion

The Hijri Calendar is the Islamic lunar (Qamari) calendar. Its first year starts with Muhammad's Hijra (622 CE), beginning with the month of Muharram. 

The Shamsi Calendar (also called the Khorshidi calendar) is the solar Hijri calendar and is the official calendar of Iran, beginning its year on March 21 (the vernal equinox, Nowruz). Adopted in 1925 by the Pahlavi dynasty, it also begins in 622 CE.

  • The Jalali calendar is similar in that it is a solar calendar that matches closely with the seasons, also beginning its year with the vernal equinox (Nowruz). The difference between the two is that the while the Jalali calendar tied the months to the zodiac, the modern Shamsi calendar made the lengths of the months regular.

The Rumi Calendar, based on the Julian Calendar, was officially used by the Ottoman Empire after the Tanzimat Reforms (1839) and by the Republic of Turkey until 1926. It is a solar based calendar.

Selected Dictionaries and Reference Sources

Dictionaries to know:

Arabic

  • Ejtaal – which includes Arabic - English dictionaries: Hans Wehr, Lane, Steingass, Qur’an resources. As well as Arabic-Arabic dictionaries such as Lisān al-ʿArab, Muḥīṭ al-Muḥīṭ, Arabic-French dictionary, as well as resources in Urdu and South East Asian languages. Search using root of word.

  • Almaany – Another online compendium of Arabic dictionaries.

  • Oxford dictionary via princeton (requires sign-in) – A good first stop to quickly look up words, and search is not limited to roots only. Can be useful for finding roots and then doing further searching on a more comprehensive dictionary.

  • Lisān al-ʿ Arab, 1984 Iran edition.

  • Lughatuna - A phone app for Apple iOS and available on Google Play Store, Lughatuna is an easy to use multi-dialect Arabic dictionary.

Persian

  • Steingass' Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary - Steingass, Francis Joseph. A comprehensive Persian-English dictionary, including the Arabic words and phrases to be met with in Persian literature. London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1892.
  • Dekhoda Dictionary - The largest comprehensive Persian dictionary ever published, comprising 16 volumes, from Tehran University Press
  • Vazehyab - A collection of Persian dictionaries, including Persian lexicons, dictionaries for various dialects, and several bilingual dictionaries (English-Persian, Arabic-Persian, Persian-English, and Persian-Arabic)

Turkish and Ottoman Turkish

  • Seslisözluk - Online English, Turkish, and Multilingual dictionary with 20+ million words and idioms
  • Kubbealti Lugati 
  • Osmanlıca Sözlükler - Searchable selection of Ottoman dictionaries
  • LexiQamus  - An Ottoman word-solver for illegible script, which runs all possibilities through 16 different Ottoman dictionaries, including Redhouse and Şemseddin Sami among many others. Lexiqamus will also give alternate possibilities for missing dots and voweling one finds in many pre-modern manuscripts. Use your Princeton sign-in to access this resource.
  • Meninski's Lexicon Arabico-Persico-Turcicum - A historical dictionary that is useful for early modernists and Ottomanists in particular. Definitions in Latin.

Useful References Collections and Sources