Hodgson’s vocabularies of Vayu and Bahing

This article examines two mid-19th century vocabularies of Kiranti languages Vayu and Bahing (Eastern Nepal) compiled by Brian Hodgson and which accompany grammar sketches of the same languages. The vocabularies, which are both English-Kiranti, have a parts-of-speech macro-structure, but adopt a combination of different ordering systems with respect to their micro-structures. The article describes the two vocabularies with respect to their structural features, and considers what evidence may be found within to suggest the data collection methods that were used in the enterprise. The article contributes, from the point of view of these various features, to the study of 19th century lexicography of Himalayan languages.