It amazes me that Aggavamsa gives three paccayas (in this case �infixes�
rather than �suffixes�) to explain the formation of titikkhati, jigucchati
and viima.msati. All three words are desideratives, and one would expect to
find a single mechanism for the formation of the desiderative. If you look
at the Sanskrit equivalents (*titiik.sate*, *jugupsate,* *viima.msate*) you
find that they all have the infix �sa- and Sanskrit grammarians indeed say
that adding �sa- in this position is the way to make a desiderative verb.
What is more, if we follow the usual rules to transform these words from
Sanskrit into Pali, you get just these forms (titikkhati, jigucchati,
viima.msati). So it would be reasonable to assume that these words came into
Pali via older forms which are now preserved in Sanskrit. (We cannot say
that Sanskrit words have been reduced to Pali because that would be
historically inaccurate). We don�t then have to give three different
paccayas (kha, cha, sa) to form desideratives. We can say that in Pali too
the way to make desideratives is by adding the infix -sa- and that this is
often obscured due to phonological developments. Thus Aggavamsa�s �kha-
stands for �ksa- and �cha for �psa-. In the first instance the �k- is a
sandhi alternation of the �j- of the root tij- and in the second the-p- is
directly from the root gup- itself. It cannot be that Aggavamsa is unaware
of this. I wonder if his reason is that to explain Pali sadda-nipphatti
(morphology), one should not have to go to another language.
Mahinda


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