Dear Ven. Kumara and friends,

Bhante, thanks for the little pointer. I'll rephrase and put it as a
note to this chapter.

metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Kumaara Bhikkhu wrote:
> Hi, everyone. I'm back just for a short while, after a very long
absence. Very happy to see that Yong Peng's work on Pali Primer is
nearing the end.
>
> At 06:13 PM 08-05-04, Ong Yong Peng wrote:
> >1. Mama aacariyo ma.m vaacento potthaka.m (book) likhi (wrote).
> > my / teacher / me / teaching / book / wrote
> > My teacher (who is) teaching me wrote a book.
>
> In case no one has pointed this out before here, I'd just like to
comment on why vaaceti, which literally means "cause to speak" came
to mean "teach". In the past, teaching is largely done through rote
learning. For the teacher to pass on his knowledge to the pupil, he
makes his pupil repeat after him and makes his recite what he has
committed into memory. Thus, in teaching the student, the teacher
literally causes him to speak.