Approaching his fifth year of a life full of wonders, young Cyrus dedicated himself to one of his most ambitious intellectual projects: compiling the Comprehensive Dictionary of New Persian. In his clay workshop, he was not only engaged in producing paper and writing tools but was now creating humanity's first paper book in this part of the world; a monumental work intended to encompass all the words of his invented language and link them with the vocabulary of ancient languages.
This process was extremely arduous and required boundless concentration. Cyrus, relying on his unparalleled photographic memory and modern linguistic knowledge, wrote the words of the New Persian language, which had taken shape in his mind, onto the newly produced paper sheets. Then, with the help of his trusted nurses and some young scribes who collaborated with him in the workshop, he found the equivalents of these words in the complex cuneiform systems. This task involved matching vocabulary with Sumerian, Akkadian, and their Babylonian and Assyrian dialects, as well as the Old Persian cuneiform script that was prevalent before his time.
The nurses and young scribes were often amazed by the scope of Cyrus's work and his meticulous precision. They could not comprehend how this child could recall hundreds of words and find their equivalents on ancient clay tablets. For them, Cyrus had transformed this task into a "grand word-discovery game"; a game in which every found word was considered a treasure. But behind this game, Cyrus's goal was to build a bridge between the past and the future, and between complex languages and his invented simple language.
The Comprehensive Dictionary of New Persian was not just a simple dictionary; it was a linguistic masterpiece. Cyrus wanted this book to be a complete reference that would allow anyone to learn the new language and access ancient knowledge. For each word, he considered not only its meaning but also its usage and potential roots, with the aim of standardizing the language and preventing the scattering of dialects.
The main challenge was organizing this vast amount of information into a paper book format. He meticulously numbered the pages and allocated separate sections for each letter of the alphabet. This structure was derived from modern library principles and allowed anyone to quickly find the words they were looking for. Each sheet of paper filled with words was a significant step on the path to the liberation of knowledge.
Cyrus knew that the importance of this dictionary extended beyond a simple linguistic tool. This book was a treasure trove of vocabulary that could bridge the linguistic gaps between the various peoples of his future empire and provide everyone with a common language for communication. It was a powerful weapon in the war against ignorance, a weapon that could spread literacy among the masses.
This project was the first example of a real paper book in this region of the world. Unlike clay tablets or imported papyri used for sacred or royal texts, the Comprehensive Dictionary of New Persian symbolized accessibility and practicality. This work was not just an invention; rather, it was the dawn of a new era in the dissemination of knowledge and the foundation of a literate and advanced society that Cyrus dreamed of.