Dear Bhikkhu Dhammanando,

Thanks for the very interesting correction.It happens often that just
when I think I've got the answer, it turns out the puzzle is deeper
than I suspected.

>
>I think Cone herself is possibly in error when translating issa
>as 'antelope'. I would be inclined to take issa and ikka as both
>being cognates of the Sanskrit .rk.sa (and Latin ursa), meaning
>'bear'.

I went back to Cone and it looks like I misquoted her. She does
translate one sense of issa as 'antelope', but that is cognate with
Sanskrit .r.sya which Apte lists as 'a white-footed antelope'.
However the cpd issaphandana occurs after her second definition for
issa which reads "2. a kind of bear?". The funny thing is she seems
to see this as also being from .r.s.ya. At least she doesn't mention
another Sankskrit source. Do you know if .rk.sa > issa would be a
regular phonetic reduction in prakrit, or an exceptional case?

There's also another issa from the Sanskrit verb iir.syati 'to be
envious' but that's listed as a separate entry altogether.

>To add to the puzzle, Buddhaghosa
>in the AA says that it eats grass, like a cow.

This is perhaps support for there being an antelope-issa in addition
to the bear-issa, and that they perhaps were confused. Or maybe
someone saw a bear eating berries in the forest? In any case, Cone's
entry seems to say that the cpd issaphandana means the bear and the
phandana, as your examples convincingly suggest.

Again thanks for widening the question.

best regards

/Rett