Re: Dhammapada

>As I am quite new to the Paa.li language, my question may be not so
>intelligent, but it is through errors that progress is made.
>
>
>As you all know, "Dhammapada" is almost always translated as "The
>verses of Dhamma(whatever the term used to render dhamma, be it
>doctrine, law, truth, etc. is not the point). What I do not
>undestand, however, is how can it be that plural is used : pada, it
>seems to me, is clearly a singular form (unlike padaa, which would
>be plural). Wouldn't a translation such as "the path of Dhamma", or
>else the somewhat akward "the verse of Dhamma", be more accurate ?

I'm not certain of the correct answer, but one thing worth looking at
is this: K.R. Norman discusses the title in the introducton to his
translation. He goes with "The Word of the Doctrine" which is
singular like you suggest. But he also mentions possible alternatives
including "the Path of the Doctrine". I'm not qualified to judge, but
his work appears exceptionally thorough, knowledgable and well
reasoned. That's also the opinion of many active scholars in the
field. So I think your instincts are leading you in the right
direction. Here's the reference to the book, in case you or another
reader is interested:

Norman, K.R. (tr), _The Word of the Doctrine (Dhammapada)_, Pali Text
Society, Oxford, 2000

hope this helps,

/rett