Arthur Cornwallis Madan (1846–1917) was a British
linguist and
Anglican missionary who became famous for his research on African languages and his
Swahili dictionaries.
In 1880 he was sent to
Zanzibar, where he learned
Swahili and assisted bishop
Edward Steere in his language research and translation work. When Steere died in August 1882, Madan finished Steere's manuscript of a Swahili grammar until the end of the year. ("A handbook of the Swahili language as spoken at Zanzibar, edited for the Universities' Mission to Central Africa").
Madan was considered the mission's chief linguist in East Africa.[2] He continued to work on Swahili dictionaries. Initially this was a pioneer's work, as
Ludwig Krapf's dictionary of Swahili, the first for this language, had not yet been published.[3] In 1894 Madan's English-Swahili dictionary was published, followed by a Swahili-English dictionary in 1903.
1906 Madan moved to
Northern Rhodesia (today:
Zambia), where he continued researching a number of African languages like
Lenje and Wisa.[4] In 1911 he returned to
Oxford, where he taught until his death in 1917.[5]
Legacy
He is remembered mostly for his dictionaries and other writings about the Swahili language. His dictionaries became the base for the Standard English-Swahili Dictionary and Standard Swahili-English Dictionary, which are known under the name of "Madan-Johnson".[6]
Kiunangi or Story and History from Central Africa, Written by Boys in the Schools of the Universities Mission to Central Africa. Arthur Cornwallis Madan, G. Bell, London 1887,
online here
Muhammadi, maisha yake: pamoja na habari za Waslimu na Maturuki .., Soc. for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1888 (in Swahili)
online at google books
Lala-Lamba Handbook: A Short Introduction to the South-western Division of the Wisa-Lala dialect of Northern Rhodesis with stories and vocabulary, 1908 Clarendon press
online at archive.org
Wisa Handbook: A Short Introduction to the Wisa Dialect of North-East Rhodesia, 1906 Clarendon Press
online at archive.org
Lenje Handbook: A Short Introduction to the Lenje Dialect Spoken in North-west Rhodesia, 1908 Clarendon press
online at archive.org
Senga Handbook: A Short Introduction to the Senga Dialect as Spoken on the Lower Luangwa, 1905 Clarendon press
online at archive.org
An outline dictionary intended as an aid in the study of the languages of the Bantu (African) and other uncivilized races, 1905 London : H. Frowde
online at archive.org
Living speech in Central and South Africa; an essay introductory to the Bantu family of languages, 1911, Oxford : Clarendon Press
online at archive.org
Coauthored with others
A handbook of the Swahili language, as spoken at Zanzibar, by Steere, Edward, 1828–1882; Madan, A. C. (Arthur Cornwallis), b. 1846, ed, 1884 London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
online at archive.org
A Grammar of the Bemba Language as Spoken in North-east Rhodesia, by Schoeffer, J. H. West Sheane, Arthur Cornwallis Madan, 1907 Clarendon press
online at archive.org
^Krapf, Johann Ludwig (1882).
A Dictionary of the Suahili Language. London: Trübner and Co.; Krapf worked on the Kimvita-Swahili of Mombasa, while Madan worked with the Kiunguja-Swahili of Zanzibar