--- "Ven. Pandita" <ashinpan@...> wrote:

> 4. so vii.naasippe kusalo hoti (He is an expert in
> the art of harps)

As a former student of musicology, I would prefer to
leave "vina" untranslated - it is a musical instrument
with no other name in any western language, as far as
i known. It is often translated as "lute", which is
closer (I think it belongs to the lute types of
chordophones, not to the harp, lyre, or cither type),
but still not quite good.

The translation of the names of musical instruments is
an eternal problem, and an eternal point of
disagreement between musicologists and others. When
ancient Greek texts in English translation speak of
"flutes", it is more often than not a translation of
_aulos_, which was actually a shawm, more like an oboe
than a flute.

This is not of essential importance to the Dhamma, of
course, but sometimes I like to take a look about
details as well - at least when it is easily done.

Gunnar

gunnargallmo@...