Arthur Cornwallis Madan

Arthur Cornwallis Madan (1846–1917) alikuwa mwanaisimu na mmisionari Mwanglikana anayejulikana hasa kwa utafiti wake wa lugha za Kiafrika na hasa kamusi za Kiswahili.

Familia na elimu

Alizaliwa 8 Machi 1846 kwenye kijiji cha Cam, Gloucestershire, Uingereza akiwa mwana wa tatu wa mchungaji Mwanglikana George Madan. Alisoma kwenye shule ya sekondari ya Marlborough College, akaendelea kusoma kwenye Christ College ya Chuo Kikuu cha Oxford 1865-1869.

Baada ya kutimiza shahada ya kwanza alifundisha Christ College 1870-1880; katika kipindi hiki alipokea pia shahada ya Uzamili. Alijiunga na Universities Mission to Central Africa.

Kazi katika Afrika

Mwaka 1880 alifika Zanzibar alipojifunza Kiswahili akashirikiana na askofu Edward Steere katika utafiti wa lugha na kazi ya kutafsiri. Steere alipoaga dunia kwenye Agosti 1882 Madan alichukua muswada wa marehemu wa masahihisho ya Sarufi ya Kiswahili akaimaliza hadi mwisho wa mwaka ("A handbook of the Swahili language as spoken at Zanzibar, edited for the Universities' Mission to Central Africa"). Alikuwa mtaalamu mkuu wa lugha wa shirika yake ya misioni katika Afrika ya Mashariki Akaendelea na kazi ya kamusi. Mwaka 1894 alitoa Kamusi ya Kiingereza-Kiswahili, iliyofuatwa na Kamusi ya Kiswahili-Kiingereza kwenye mwaka 1903. Mnamo 1906 alihamia Rhodesia ya Kaskazini (leo: Zambia) alipoendelea kufanya uchunguzi wa lugha za Kiafrika kama vile Kilenje na Kiwisa. Mnamo 1911 alirudi Oxford alipofundisha hadi kifo chake mwaka 1917 akiwa na umri wa miaka 72.

Urithi wake

Anajulikana kwa kamusi zake za Kiingereza-Kiswahili na Kiswahili-Kiingereza (Madan 1902), pamoja na vitabu kuhusu Kiswahili. Kamusi zake zilikuwa msingi wa Kamusi za Standard English-Swahili Dictionary na Standard Swahili-English Dictionary zinazojulikana kwa jina la „Madan-Johnson“ zikitumiwa hadi karne ya 21.

Vitabu vyake

Kwa jina lake A. C. Madan

• English-Swahili Dictionary, 1894, 1902² Clarendon Press online at archive.org

• Swahili-English dictionary, 1903 Oxford, Clarendon press online at archive.org

• Kiunangi or Story and History from Central Africa, Written by Boys in the Schools of the Universities Mission to Central Africa. Arthur Cornwallis Madan, G. Bell, London 1887, online here

• Muhammadi, maisha yake: pamoja na habari za Waslimu na Maturuki ..,  Soc. for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1888 (in Swahili) online at google books

• Lala-Lamba Handbook: A Short Introduction to the South-western Division of the Wisa-Lala dialect of Northern Rhodesis with stories and vocabulary, 1908 Clarendon press online at archive.org

• Wisa Handbook: A Short Introduction to the Wisa Dialect of North-East Rhodesia, 1906 Clarendon Press online at archive.org

• Lenje Handbook: A Short Introduction to the Lenje Dialect Spoken in North-west Rhodesia, 1908  Clarendon press    online at archive.org

• Senga Handbook: A Short Introduction to the Senga Dialect as Spoken on the Lower Luangwa, 1905 Clarendon press online at archive.org

• An outline dictionary intended as an aid in the study of the languages of the Bantu (African) and other uncivilized races, 1905 London : H. Frowde online at archive.org

• Living speech in Central and South Africa; an essay introductory to the Bantu family of languages, 1911, Oxford : Clarendon Press               online at archive.org

Alivyotunga pamoja na wengine

• A handbook of the Swahili language, as spoken at Zanzibar, by Steere, Edward, 1828–1882; Madan, A. C. (Arthur Cornwallis), b. 1846, ed, 1884 London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge online at archive.org

• A Grammar of the Bemba Language as Spoken in North-east Rhodesia, by Schoeffer, J. H. West Sheane, Arthur Cornwallis Madan, 1907 Clarendon press online at archive.org

Marejeo

Makala hii bado ni mbegu. Je, unajua kitu kuhusu Mkristo huyu, kama wasifu wake, habari za maisha au kazi yake? Je, unaona habari katika Wikipedia ya Kiingereza au lugha nyingine zinazofaa kutafsiriwa? Basi unaweza kuisaidia Wikipedia kwa kuihariri na kuiongezea habari.