Although the origin of the Tamil language dates back to antiquity, the first regular lexicon of the language, with words arranged alphabetically, did not appear until the eighteenth century. Lexicons of the earlier period were not arranged alphabetically but metrically, on the basis of the first-letter rhyme, a characteristic of
Tamil poetry.
Agaraadhi Nigandu was the first alphabetically arranged lexicon published in 1594. Several dictionaries followed suit, including those by the foreign missionaries, such as
Palporut Choolaamani,
Podhigai Nigandu, Tamil–Portuguese Dictionary of Fr. Antem de Proenca,
Dictionarium Tamulicum,
Chathur Agaraadhi, Fabricius's Tamil–English Dictionary,
Manual Dictionary of the Tamil Language (The Jaffna Dictionary),
Oru Sor Pala Porul Vilakkam, Rottler's Tamil–English Dictionary, Winslow's Tamil–English Dictionary, Pope's Compendious Tamil–English Dictionary, Classical Tamil–English Dictionary, Tamil Pocket Dictionary, Tranquebar Dictionary, N. Kadhirvel Pillai's Dictionary, Sangam Dictionary, and
Ilakkiya Sol Agaraadhi. When the 67,542-words Winslow's Tamil–English Dictionary, which was sourced on the unpublished work of Rev. Joseph Night and Rev. Samuel Hutsings, was published in 1862 by the American Mission Press, it was considered the best lexicon available at that time. This dictionary by
Miron Winslow was based on the works of
Johann Rottler, which itself was inspired from
Johann Fabricius's work in the mid-18th century. Winslow was sent out to
Jaffna and then transferred to
Madras by the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In both the places, he collaborated with
Arumuga Navalar. It had the most number of words of any Tamil dictionary up to the time. The copyright of the dictionary was held by the
American Ceylon Mission. Soon there was a demand to revise the Winslow dictionary. However, the mission suffered from lack of funds due to the
closure of the Arbuthnot Bank. Citing lack of scholars in
Ceylon (now
Sri Lanka), it then sought the help of the Madras branch of the Christian Literature Society. ==Editions==