--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Piya Tan" <dharmafarer@...> wrote:

>
> Dear Jim, John (or anyone else),
>
> What does this sentence mean?
>
> *Niddasavatthnii ti aadi-saddalopenaaya.m niddeso ti *(DAT 3:334)

Dear Piya,

The above is only part of the passage we need to know (btw, -vatthnii
ti should read vatthuunii ti).

Niddasavatthuunii ti aadi-saddalopenaaya.m niddeso ti aaha
niddasaadivatthuunii ti.

means:
"niddasavatthuuni": because this is a description with elision of the
word "aadi" he said "niddasaadivatthuuni".

> *Aadi-sadda-lopa*: this is surely a grammatical term. Do the ancient
> grammars mention it? What does this mean?

P.G. Dave has explained the elision of the middle part in a Sanskrit
compound. 'saddalopa' is a grammatical term but I don't yet know of
its use in the ancient Pali grammars. 'sadda' can refer to letters, a
word, or any other linguistic item. The modern Pali grammar called
the Niruttidiipanii by the late Ledi Sayadaw mentions padalopa at the
end of sutta 33 which I think touches on your passage. Here it is:

padalopo aadimajjhantesu -- datto=devadatto, assehi yutto
ratho=assaratho, ruupabhavo=ruupa.m, aruupabhavo=aruupa.m iccaadi.

"niddasavatthuuni" would be an example of majjhepadalopa
like "assaratho". More examples are given in the section on
tatiyatappurisa.

Best wishes,
Jim