Re: Saddaniiti XXV: 868

Dear George,

Thank-you for your comments.

> This sutta establishes a hierarchy among the person forms of
> finite verbs: in Indian grammar, first person (pa.thamo puriso)
> is what we call third person, middle person (majjhimo puriso)
> is what we call second person, and last person (uttamo puriso)
> is what we call first person. See Collins, page 16, who wisely
> sticks with the familiar Western terminology.

It is interesting to note that S.C. Vasu, in his translation of
Panini's suutra I 4.101, translates 'prathama' as 'lowest', 'madhyama'
as 'middle', and 'uttama' as 'highest' for the three persons.

> I don't like the use of 'subsequent' for paro here because that
> word tends to be understood as referring to a result; e.g. 'her
> subsequent embarrassment'. Maybe 'later' is a better choice,
> but it still must be understood as 'later in the order: first
> person, middle person, last person'.

I agree that 'subsequent' does not seem the right translation for
'paro' here but it is a standard one in denoting what comes after as
opposed to what comes before, i.e., the antecedent or prior. I have no
objection to 'the later'. 'paro' (beyond) is also given in PED as an
adverb.

> I am also dubious about 'in a single verbal expression' for
> ekaabhidhaane. Aggava.msa explicitly understands this
> condition to rule out mixing tenses, but maya.m pacimhaa
> 'we cooked' in his last example is clearly a single verbal
> expression. I think we need something like 'in a single
> situation' which suggests that the tense must be constant,
> The term refers to meaning rather than form.

The word 'ekaabhidhaane' is difficult to ascertain. The Kaccaayana
commentators take it to mean 'in an expression of the same (tense and
activity)' which suggests that the expression referred to is the one
that can stand for a group of other expressions having the same tense
and activity, e.g., 'maya.m pacaama' can stand for a combination of
'aha~nca pacaami, tva~nca pacasi, so ca pacati'.

Best wishes,
Jim