Ali Akbar Dehkhoda
Ali Akbar Dekhodā (Dehkhoda), born in Tehran the 24 February 1880, was one of the greats of science and literature, satirical journalist, member of the national parliament, university professor, linguist, Iranian poet and author of a vocabulary to which he owes his worldwide fame.
Dekhoda, after completing the ten-year period of study of the ancient and religious sciences and learning the Arabic language, devoted himself to the study of modern sciences and French in the political school in Tehrān and was hired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He traveled to Europe and settled in Vienna, the capital of Austria. In this period he completed his knowledge of French and acquired much information on modern science and on the scientific and artistic progress of Europe and returned to Iran with numerous scientific acquisitions.
In conjunction with the beginning of the constitutional revolution, he, as a writer and chief editor, with the collaboration of others, published the famous newspaper Sur-e Esrafil: in reality, the collaboration of Dekhodā with this magazine, brought to light its political activity.
The seam of satire "charand goes parand"(Nonsense) in this newspaper was edited by him and signed with" Dekho "; the writing style was unprecedented in Persian literature and gave life to a new school in the world of journalism and contemporary prose.
Dekhodā with courage and great tenacity published in that newspaper the social and political miseries of that era using the method of satire; in Persian literature he was very well versed and in his career he also devoted himself to teaching this subject.
Dekhodā together with a group of liberalists in defense of the constitution and the liberalism, he was exiled to Paris and there and later in Switzerland he tried to get the newspaper printed again Sur-e Esrafil.
After a period he returned to Iran and became a member of the National Council Parliament. During the First World War Dekhodā lived in one of the villages of the Iranian region Chahār Mahāl va Bakhtiāri and after the end of the war he returned to Tehrān and moved away from political affairs to devote himself to the scientific and cultural sphere and to the end of his prolific life. he continued to study and do research.
Mirzā Ali Akbar Dekhodā's life was always accompanied by innovation, creativity and originality; creativity in poetry and prose, deepening of social issues, extrusion in journalism and innovation in the method of research and analysis in Persian literature.
The creative and human peculiarities of Dekhodā offered a clear example to everyone. He throughout his life always fought against colonialism, despotism and the preservation of the cultural heritage of his country.
The great Dekhodā vocabulary is the result of over forty years of daily efforts and was printed in 26475 pages with three columns in more than 50 volumes and includes all the Persian words with precise meaning and poems and related information. He also published the book "Amsāl-o Hekam " (Proverbs and Mottos) which includes all the proverbs, stories and examples of popular wisdom in the Persian language; this alone demonstrates the knowledge and scientific personality of Dekhodā.
Today in Tehran there is a center called "Dekhodā Vocabulary Institute and International Center of Persian Language Teaching" which continues to publish vocabulary in Iran and teaches the teaching of becoming interested foreigners.
Among the works of Allāmeh Dekhodā we recall the following: "Amsāl-o Hekam ", the translation of two works by Montesquieu, "Considerations on the causes of the greatness of the Romans and their decadence, and" The spirit of the laws "," French-Persian Dictionary "," Abu Reyhan Biruni "," Research on the Diwān by Nāser Khosrow, "on Diwān-e Seyed Hassan Ghaznavi , the rectification of the following works: Diwān-e Hāfez, Diwān-e Manuchehri, Diwān-e Farakhi, Diwān-e Ma'sud Sa'd, Diwān-e Suzani, of the dictionary of Fars Asadi, of Sahah Al fars, of Diwān -and Ibn Yamin, by Yusuf va Zuleikhā, a collection of articles, exhortations, short writings and the Diwān-e Dekhodā.
Dekhodā died in Tehrān on 27 February 1956. His mausoleum is in Ebn-e Bābuyeh in the family tomb.
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