Ali Akbar Dehkhoda

Persian literary scholar, poet, author,

and a political and social critic

(1297- 7 Esfand 1324 / 1918- 25 February 1945)

Ali Akbar Dehkhoda was born inTehran 1879. His father, Khan Baba Khan Ghazvini, died when his son was only nine years old.

Dehkhoda studied theology, Islamic law and literature under the tutelage of Shaykh Qolam-Hossein Boroujerdi. In December 1899, Dehkhoda enrolled in the School of Political Science. After completing his studies, Dehkhoda was retained as a secretary by the Ghajar dignitary and ambassador to Balkan countries, and studied for the next two years, primarily inVienna, Austria.In these years he completed his French language.

Dehkhoda"s returned to Iran, in 1905, coincided with the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and soon became an important participant in that movement. His literary and commentary work began with his collaboration with

Sur-Esrafil newspaperfounded by Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi, known as Sur-Esrafil, and Qasem Khan Tabrizi. Dehkhoda wrote a satirical political column titledCharand-o-Parandunder the nickname Dakho which became quite popular and controversial. Sur Esrafil was a popular newspaper among the people.

With the bombardment of the Iranian Parliament by Mohammad Ali Shah, Dehkhoda was arrested and forced into exile since was one of the members of liberation movement  while his friend and collaborator, Sur Esrafil was executed by the order of the Shah.

While in exile, first in Paris and then toSwitzerland, Dehkhoda with the aid of other Iranian exiles in Paris published Sur-Esrafil. The center of Sur-Esrafil publishing had become as Iranians’ gathering center. This newspaper was distributed in all over the world in that time. With the revolutionaries" march on Tehran and the final defeat of Mohammad Ali Shah in 1910, Dehkhoda was asked to return to Iran, having been nominated and elected as a parliment deputy by the people of Tehran.

During World War I, Dehkhoda took sanctuary among the Bakhtiaris in the Chahar Mahal area and upon the conclusion of the war returned toTehran. From this time, Dehkhoda withdrew from public and political life and immersed himself in literary and scholarly works. It was during this period that he undertook the monumental task of writing his

Persian Encyclopedia, as well as producing other literary and scholarly works on Persian literature and language.

Dehkhoda’s Persian Encyclopedia, is the conclusion of his attempt during forty years. This book contains of different words with their meanings and also Historical and Geographical information. More than thousands Turkish, Arabic, Indian, German, French, English, Russian words which are used in Persian language are found in this book. Persian grammar is another advantage of this book which has been described completely.

Here we refer to his some works as fallow:

·       Amsal va Hekam

·       Rooh-ul-Qavanin Translation

·       French-Persian Dictionary

·       Abu Reyhan Birouni

·       Correction of Hafiz’s Divan

·       Correction of Manoochehri’s Divan

·       Correction of Farokhi’s Divan

·       Correction of Masoud Sa’d’s Divan

·       Correction of Soozani’s Divan

·       Roman’s greatness & destroying Translation

·       Correction of Fors Asadi’s word

·       Correction of Ibn-e Yamin’s Divan

·       Correction of Yousif & Zoleikha

·       Dehkhoda’s Divan

Dehkhoda passed awayon 7th Esfand 1334. His body was buried in Ibn-e Babviyeh graveyard. His name will be etched to the history of Iranian literature & language for many years to come.