TEHRAN -- Iranians listened to Dehkhoda’s voice for the first time on Friday afternoon on the national radio program “In the Realm of History”.

An old 8-minute cassette featuring the voice of Dehkhoda was recently discovered in the Majlis Library, Museum, and Documentation Center.
The cassette was found in a collection donated by Hassan Rahavard, a companion of Dehkhoda, the center director Ali Tatari informed the Persian service of MNA.
Ali Akbar Dehkhoda (1879–1959) was a prominent Iranian linguist, and author of the most comprehensive Persian language dictionary ever published.
The 45-minute program began with Tatari and another guest, Persian language and literature scholar Hassan Zolfaqari, discussing several points about cultural and political aspects of Dehkhoda. The program followed by Dehkhoda’s voice was broadcast every ten minutes.
The first part of the voice was unclear, but then referring to his colleagues in editing the dictionary Dehkhoda continued, “to accomplish this I need learned and knowledgeable individuals. I know someone named Mohammad Moin who is appropriate for collaboration. There are also (Mohammad) Dabir-Siyaqi and Jafar Shahidi who can also help compile the dictionary.”
The recording then continued, “Whatever has been done so far is in several large and small volumes, but we need time to accomplish this and I don’t think I can finish it. But, I hope they can complete the project because we need to write this dictionary of the 2000-year-old Persian language as well as what has been added to it over the past 200 to 300 years.”
On Iran’s educational system Dehkhoda also comments, “Our educational system is comprised of elementary, secondary and high school. Our secondary level is in poor shape perhaps because of trying to include too much stuff in the curriculum. The public sector has to control this. Also first and foremost, a student needs to learn his mother tongue.”
Afterwards, Dehkhoda refers to the main books he has studied and names Avicenna’s Kitab al-Shifa and then his voice gets cut off.
The radio program also had a phone guest Hassan Rahavard, a companion of Dehkhoda in compiling the dictionary. Rahavard is now 95 years old.
Rahavard talked about his collaboration with Dehkhoda and said, “In the year 1941, the then culture minister Esmaeil Merat asked me to work as Dehkhoda’s assistant. It was with with great honor that I accepted the position and four volumes of the dictionary were completed.
“I then went to see Dehkhoda in his office and saw him working surrounded by books and papers,” he added.
“Dehkhoda later donated a volume of dictionary to me a year before his death because of my sincere cooperation,” he remarked.
Dehkhoda translated Montesquieu’s De l’esprit des lois (The Spirit of the Laws) into Persian. He also wrote the four-volume “Proverbs and Mottos”, a French-Persian Dictionary, and other books. However, his lexicographic masterpiece is the 15-volume “Dehkhoda Dictionary”, the largest and most comprehensive Persian dictionary ever published.
Mohammad Moin completed Dehkhoda’s unfinished volumes in compliance with Dehkhoda’s request. The book eventually came out after forty-five years of great efforts by Dehkhoda.