Nepal, Nov. 26 -- 'Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had country more faithful friends than you'. These are words anyone interested in the Gurkhas is sure to come by, sooner rather than later. They featured in the preface to Ralph L Turner's A Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of the Nepali Language, the monumental tome that still serves as a most useful Nepali-to-English reference almost a century after it was first published. Turner, a 'sometime' officer with the Gurkha Rifles, was paying tribute to the men he had served with during World War I. Turner earned his name, of course, more as an academic than a warrior, having spent almost his entire career at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

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