Here is the first installment of my attempt to translate and give a
grammatical analysis of the exercises in A.K. Warder's "Intorduction to
Pali."
If at any time you notice a mistake, or a grammatical analysis that is
missing a component, please let me know. As some of you may be aware, I am
by no means a Pali expert, but am doing this to increase my knowledge of
Pali. As requested by John Kelly, I will also make any comments if I notice
any mistakes in his translations, but I don't anticipate finding many, if
any. I will also rely upon the translation and footnotes created by Bhikkhu
Brahmali for this project. Unlike Bhikkhu Brahmali, who's intention was to
have a very literal translation of each section for scholarly use, I am
going to include the grammatical analysis and literal traslation of each
word, but then a more idiomatic final English phrase/paragraph.
With that said, here is the first installment. I will likely post more
today as I have finished the first four exercises and plan to finish the
fifth and sixth today as well.
Metta,
Alan
Exercise 1:
tathaagato bhaasati
tathaagato[m-a/nom/sg] thus gone
bhaasati[bhaa I/ind act/3rd sg] he speaks
The Buddha (lit: the Thus Gone) speaks
upaasako pucchati
upaasako [m-a/nom/sg] lay disciple
pucchati[pucch I/ind act/ 3rd sg] he asks
The lay disciple asks
puriso eva.m vadati
puriso [m-a/nom/sg ] person
eva.m [indec/enc/adv] thus/so
vadati [vad I/ind act/ 3rd sg] he says
The person says so [or ] Thus, the person says
devo amanusso hoti
devo [m-a/nom/sg] god
amanusso [m-a/nom/sg] not human
hoti [huu I/ ind act/3rd sg] it is/he is
The god is not human
eva.m vadami
eva.m [adv/indec/enc]Thus/so
vadami [vad I/ind act/1st sg] I say
I say so [or] Thus, I say
khattiyo pakkamati
khattiyo [m-a/nom/sg] noble/warrior
pakkamati [pa+ kam I/ind act/ 3rd sg] he goes away
The warrior goes away
mahaamatto nisiidati
mahaamatto [m-a/nom/sg] minister
nisiidati [ni+siid I/ ind act/ 3rd sg] he sits down
The minister sits down
sama.no tathaagato hoti
sama.no [m-a/nom/sg] ascetic
tathaagato [m-a/nom/sg] thus gone
hoti [huu I/ind act/ 3rd sg] he is
The ascetic is thus gone [or] The ascetic is a Buddha/Arahant
putto upaasako passati
putto [m-a/nom/sg ] son
upaasako [m-a/nom/sg ] the lay disciple
passati [pass I/ind act/3rd sg] he sees
The son, who is a lay disciple, sees
braahma.no upasa.mkamati
braahma.no [m-a/nom/sg ] priest
upasa.mkamati [upa +sam + kam I/ind act/3rd sg] he approaches