> quite so, Yuttadhammo.
>
> I was just pointing out that "padhaana" does not mean "noun" but means
> "chief". however, in the example u gave, the noun also happens to be the
> chief pada.
>
> metta

Dear Dave,

Ah, your point was not so clear in your first post. I apologise if I
made it seem that "padhaana" meant "noun", though I am not sure it is
possible in Pali to have a chief pada which is not a noun... For
instance, in the phrase "mahaaduggato puriso", the first pada cannot be
considered a padhaana, even though it might appear by itself; if it
appears by itself, we assume the word puriso or what ever padhaana it
refers to:

Nagarasmi.m mahaaduggato puriso ahosi. Pa.n.ditapuriso mahaaduggata.m
"samma tva.m kati bhikkhuu bhojessasiiti pucchi.

But then two nouns could refer to the same object, and it would depend I
think on the context which was considered the "padhaana". Eg.

So satto asso hoti. Asso satto hoti. Asso ca so satto ca hoti.

It looks, though, that the word padhaana is little used in the pali
grammars (not that I would be the expert...). In the Thai grammar texts
it is used in this way.

Best wishes,

Yuttadhammo (Phra Noah)