From: rsalm
Message: 9249
Date: 2005-10-20
> The solution is simply that adjectives very often function as nouns in Skt/Pali.<Exactly. And sometimes these 'adjectives' (and even adverbs) are at the end of bahubbiihi compounds, as I think we are all now aware. Sometimes, it appears, we *can* interpret these final elements as nouns, like you do with "asama buddha" = the Buddha without an equal. But it doesn't *have to* be interpreted this way. Warder (137) translates this example: "the unequalled" Buddha. Often, it amounts to the same thing: "unequalled" = "without an equal." Sama/sama.m, like many adjectives in Paali, has flexible nominal and adjectival usage.
----- Original Message -----
From: rett
To: Pali@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 12:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Pali] asama etc [was: Compounds]
> The books often give adjectives at the end of these compounds, as I
>showed in > my last post.
Suppose I then propose that the subject of a Pali sentence can also
be an adjective.
Viiro gacchati.
Viiro is an adjective meaning 'heroic'. Hence the above means: Heroic goes.
Does that sound a bit absurd? Of course. The solution is simply that
adjectives very often function as nouns in Skt/Pali. Viiro there just
means 'hero': the hero goes.
Similarly, 'dutiyo' in the example you brought really can be read
'companion'. To repeat my previous counterexample, dutiyo there was
no more functioning as an adjective, than does 'second' in: The
prince arrived at the duelling place at dawn with his trusted friend
as his second. The word has acquired further semantic content, far
beyond just the idea of the ordinal numeral in both cases. With pali
'dutiyo' it has acquired the idea of being something that
accompanies, with eng. 'second' it's similar, but it is further
restricted to duelling.
'Sama' in asama (lacking an equal) really does mean here 'an equal'
i.e. is functioning as a noun. By way of comparison, there is an
another use of 'asama' meaning 'uneven', as in uneven ground, which
is bad for chariots. This latter is based on the adjectival use of
sama.
Another of your examples was farther off: mattaa (f) really does mean
'a measure'. The so-called adjective -matta (ifc) is a form that has
resulted precisely from making bahubbiihis from the noun mattaa.
/Rett
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