Tagalog Dictionary

If you have ever looked for a Tagalog dictionary, you probably ran into some dead-ends. There are online dictionaries and translators, but despite the language's age, there are strikingly few bound dictionaries.

Dictionaries in General

English-speakers take their language lexicons for granted. Are there so many books about English because it is the most-studied language on the planet, or is it studied as much as it is because there so many books about it? Whichever came first, English-learners and speakers enjoy a wide variety of dictionaries and thesauri that cover pretty much very component and dialect of English.

Dictionaries have become a sort of calling card for official languages. When a language is big enough to stand on its own two feet, someone writes a dictionary for it. When someone puts out a new dictionary, that dictionary can't help but create a small hurricane around it because of what's at stake. Some will love it, and some will hate it, but all will acknowledge that the dictionary was a natural and necessary development of the language. Since cultural identities are usually tangled up in language arts, it’s not surprising that strong feelings are always held on both sides of word books.

Cultural identities are important to people, but it's hard going to get recognized as a culture. To have an ethnicity, you need to have a group of people who share a cultural background, and a common language is a sure-fire way to convince the masses that you do that. Having a language isn't enough, though. You still need to convince people that your language is worth teaching and learning and speaking. It's weird to have to convince anyone of such a thing, but it's a strange world. A language needs validity, and a dictionary lends a language that validity. It makes you wonder where English would be without Samuel Johnson.

The Tagalog Dictionary

Finally, 1,101 years after the first known thing was written in Tagalog, there is a dictionary for the language. There are many bilingual vocabulary books for Tagalog-learners, starting with the 1613 Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala by Pedro de San Buenaventura, but there was never a monolingual Tagalog Dictionary until now. In 2001, the first edition of UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino was edited by Virgilio S. Almario and published by Inilathala at ipinamamahagi ng Anvil Pub. The Second edition was published in 2008 to coincide with the centennial of the University of the Philippines.

Many think that the Philippines has found its Samuel Johnson in Virgilio S. Almario. He is probably the most well-known and respected Filipino artist, critic, translator, poet, and educator. He is one of the current custodians of the language and culture as the dean of the college of arts and letters at the University of the Philippines. Under his artist name, Rio Alma, he is the most celebrated writer in Tagalog and a Filipino national and cultural treasure.His true name is now in every classroom that speaks Tagalog, and he's certain to be immortalized in the history books as one of the fathers of the language.

It's an exciting thing, the birth of a language. Every year, languages die. The last person to use an ancient tongue perishes, and along with them so does a whole way of thinking and a cultural heritage. Tagalog is now farther from that fate than ever. Tagalog-speakers can now run to their bookcases to look up words, find out how to spell them, or learn new ones. In English-speaking countries, it's impossible to imagine a world without dictionaries. Maybe in a few hundred years, Tagalog-speakers won't be able to either.

If you're a collector of dictionaries or speak Tagalog and need to get your hands on this, you can find the UP diksiyonaryong Filipino here. For those of you just looking to look up the occasional Tagalog word and get an English definition, try this. If you're learning Tagalog, check this out.