Hi Alan,

>
>
>3) substantive+adj
>
>I know that in English ice-cold is an example of this, but what would a
>Paa.li example be? Though I have found examples for all of the other
>types, I haven't had the chance of finding one for this. Any help would
>be appreciated.

I'm guessing you're interested in attested examples in Pali, and not just constructed examples or examples mechanically translated from Sanskrit. So far I've just found one:

paa.na-sama

Lit: 'The same as life', hence: 'dear as life'.

This is from the first story in the Dhammapada.t.thkathaa (Vol I, page 5 in the PTS edition). It occurs in the phrase: paa.nasama.m puttadaara.m pariccajitvaa, 'having abandoned son and wife, (who are) dear as life'. In idiomatic English it would read 'dear to me as life itself'.


I'm pretty sure there are more, but they don't seem frequent.

Whitney's Sanskrit Grammar (page 501) mentions a similar one to the above in Sanskrit: praa.na-priya, which would paa.na-ppiya in Pali. 'dear as life'. I was searching for a Pali equivalent of this one in the PED when I found the above cited example instead.

Another plausible one, derived from Sanskrit via Whitney, would be u.n.naa-mudu, 'soft as wool'.

I'll keep an eye out for more authentic specimens. Traditional Sanskrit and Pali grammar allow for new-production of compounds, so an author is basically free (within limits) to coin new ones.

best regards,

/Rett