Thanks for the interesting discussion. I was
wondering whether the word anga in the title
might not refer to the factors in the various
lists (as one would expect), but might instead
refer to the collection as a whole. The word
could be being used in the same sense as in the
Jaina canon (which apparently uses the word anga
for its major subdivisions). The sense would be
more along the lines of 'yet another nikaaya',
'the additional nikaaya'. Tongue in cheek, as
though you might have thought it was enough with
the Diigha, Majjhima, Samyutta... but here comes
another one.
Along these lines, the word 'anga' might have
been competing for a time with the word 'nikaaya'
as the designation for the major subdivisions of
the Pali Canon, and the title "Anguttaranikaaya"
might reflect this.
I'm basing this only on the following two
sections from O von Hinüber's _A Handbook of Pali
Literature_, 1996. It's just something I find
worth considering; I might have missed the point
here.
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76. The AN is arranged according to a numerical
system begining with sets of one and ending with
those of eleven items or persons.
The name Anguttara is difficult to explain
grammatically, though generally understood as
"one member more, in addition", which is a
translation _ad sensum_ justified by the
tradition: ekaekaangaatirekavasena, Sp 27,16
"always one member more". It is used side by side
with Ekuttara, cf. CPD s.v.(§47), which means
"one more". The corresponding translation,
however, does not apply for DN no. 34 Dasuttara
"the highest (number of which ) is ten" (§62),
although this word may have been the model for
the formation of the word Anguttara(?).
The word anga itself only rarely designates items
in AN. The first instance is tiihi angehi
paapa.niko, AN I 115,15. Much more frequently
dhamma is used: ekadhamma.m, AN I 3,2 etc.
///
///
78. Structuring texts on numerical principles was
a widespread practice in ancient India: The third
Anga of the Jaina canon .Thaa.na.mga/Staananga is
arranged as AN, from one to ten, and the fourth
Anga Samabaayanga, from one to one million.
Similar structures are found in the
Mahaabhaarata, such as the Viduraniitivaakya in
the Udyogaparvan, Mhbh 5,2,33.
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