The Nippo Jisho (日葡辞書, literally the "Japanese–Portuguese Dictionary") or Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam (Vocabulário da Língua do Japão in modern Portuguese; "Vocabulary of the Language of Japan" in English) is a Japanese-to-Portuguese dictionary compiled by Jesuit missionaries and published in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1603.
[2] The Society of Jesus (commonly known as the Jesuits), with the cooperation of Japanese people, compiled the dictionary over several years.
As needed, the authors identify such things as regional dialect, written and spoken forms, women's and children's language, elegant and vulgar words, and Buddhist vocabulary.
The dictionary also yields information on rhyming words, individual pronunciation, meaning, usage, names of plants and animals, popular phrases, and customs of the times.
The creators of the Nippo Jisho devised a system of transcription for the 16th-century Japanese language with contemporary Portuguese Roman letters.
The fourth copy is located at the National Library of Brazil, and it belonged to the wife of Emperor Dom Pedro II, Teresa Cristina.