Re: Pali Day by Day E077 (Ex22A)

Piya:

> I have a feeling here that although Pali does not use "a piece of" I
> think it is good English to do so. Word for word translation may not
> always work: usually it is better to translate the sense or meaning
> intended.
>
> So it should be "a piece of cloth."

Not necessarily. There is no need to insert a classifier such as "a
piece of", "a scrap of" or "a roll of" in sentences where "cloth"
refers to, say, a dishcloth, facecloth, or a tablecloth, or simply one
cloth out of several. But in the present case, even if one does use
such a phrase, the point I made in my previous post still stands: eka.m
in this context must be translated as "one" not as "a", hence, "one
piece of cloth".

Best wishes,
Dhammanando