In connection with an invitation I had received to make a supple-ment to Steingass's Persian dictionary I happened to ask a young Persian friend of mine who was staying in London if he would go through Steingass and note any important omissions. The name of my friend was Mr. M. A. Maliki, and when I made this request I knew very little about his linguistic attainments. By good fortune he turned out to have a really astonishing feeling for language and a very special knowledge of his mother tongue.