Now, look up the dictionary on iPod

A city-based publishing house, Cre-A, has brought out a Tamil-Tamil-English dictionary on iPod. The recently launched initiative has already grabbed the attention of the general public.

Cre-A, which has its presence in several areas of book publishing such as translation, layout, cover design, etc., had published its first Tamil-Tamil-English dictionary in 1992.

The second revised edition was brought out in 2008. Speaking to City Express, Asaithambi, one of the editors said, “In 1956, the first Tamil dictionary by S Vaiyapuri Pillai was published by Madras University in seven volumes. In 1986, we started to create a contemporary Tamil dictionary and the work was completed in 1992. The first edition had around 14,000 words. In that dictionary, you cannot find words like Inaiyam, the Tamil word for Internet, since, that was the time Internet was introduced. Again in 2008, we revised and updated the dictionary with new words and brought the second edition with 21,000 words. For example, the Tamil word Podu, has around 24 meanings in first edition, but the same word has around 54 meanings in the second edition,” he added.

It took close to two years to develop the dictionary on iPod.

“One can search in both Tamil and English languages. We also provide video links, pictures, etc. At first, one has to pay Rs 1,100 to download the feature in an authorised centre and from second time the cost will be less. For every three months we constantly update the dictionary,” he said.

The feature can also be used in iPhone and iPod touch (4.3) besides iPod.