Manuel da Assumpção

Manuel da Assumpção was a Portuguese missionary who wrote the first grammar of the Bengali language, in 1743, titled "Vocabulario em idioma Bengalla, e Portuguez" .

Grammar and dictionary

The grammar was written in the Portuguese language. Assumpção wrote this first grammatical instructions of the Bengali language between 1734 and 1742 while in Bhawal estate, now in Bangladesh. The book was published in 1743 in Lisbon. The grammar was based on the model of the Latin grammar and used Latin script for writing Bengali words.
Bengali alphabetical sequence was not followed in the Bengali-Portuguese glossary. It followed the Latin order from A to Z. However, while laying the Latin alphabetical segments for Bengali-Portuguese glossaries, Monoel had covered certain Bengali characters within the segments recognizing those phonetic variations to the status of Bengali characters. For example, segment B, C, G, T covers the Bengali words starting with letters ব, চ, গ, ত, and segment Bh, Ch, Gh, Tt, Th & Tth representing the words starting with Bengali characters ভ, ছ, ঘ, ট, থ & ঠ respectively.

Crepar Xastrer Orth, Bhed

Manuel da Assumpção wrote another book under the title “Crepar Xastrer Orth, Bhed”. It was a bilingual book Crepar Xastrer Orth, Bhed, / Cathecismo da Doutrina Christãa written in 1735 in Bhawal estate in Bengal, now Bangladesh and published in Lisbon in 1743. It was a missionary book, in format a dialogue between a clergyman and his disciple. The main text was printed on the right page while the translation in Bengali appeared on the left. The whole book was, however, printed in Roman type.