Yong Peng, Jim, Nina and all,

I think Jim's interpretation of the pariccheda 1 title is correct. For the line:

> Sakattham-pi dhaaretii-ti dhaatu,

> own way - too / understands / dhaatu

> 'Understands in one's own way' is dhaatu

,
Jim: 'it contains its own meaning'

I would suggest:

A 'root' is what has meaning by itself.

This is the first of several definitions of the term dhaatu. One question (which I don't
know how to answer) is whether the definitions are intended to identify different senses of
dhaatu, or whether they are to be understood as (together) defining a single notion.

My suggestion assumes that as the first definition, this one offers the most relevant
meaning or perspective. That is, it is the linguistic notion of 'root' which is being specified
here. The idea of 'having meaning by itself' is in contrast to those elements of language
(vikara.na and vibhatti, or suffixes) which convey meaning only in combination with roots.
This approach is consistent with some modern ideas that contrast 'lexical items' which are
listed in a dictionary with their respective definitions, and 'grammatical items' which are
not listed in a dictionary but given (either as rules or paradigms) in a grammar. By
incorporating a dhaatumaalaa as well as padamaalaa, Aggava.msa has provided both a
dictionary and a grammar (in the modern sense).

George