I do agree that such a list would the helpful for beginners. It also makes learning more fun.

Frank, I suggest that you post this on the Pali section of DhammaWheel, and invite others to add to the list.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Bryan Levman <bryan.levman@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Frank,
>
> That is a good observation. Murray Emeneau, A Canadian born linguist specializing in south Asian languages, recognized the same phenomenon and wrote about it in
>
> M. B. Emeneau, "Onomatopoetics in the Indian Linguistic Area. ", Language, 45 (1969): 274-99. Also Available in Anwar S. Dil,  Language and Linguistic Area (Stanford: Stanford University Press), 250-293.
>
> He points out that it is found in Dravidian and Munda languages (indigenous languages of India) as well as Middle Indic (i. e. Indo-Aryan languages of Indo European ancestry, i. e. that came originally from outside of India) languages like Pali. He argues that it is a pan-Indic trait, a feature of the Indian linguistic area (also called "Sprachbund"). On page 269-289 he gives a list of onomatopoetic words found in Dravidian and Indo-Aryan that you can look at. Some Skt. and Pali examples he gives are
>
> budbuda, "bubble"
> miṇmiṇa, "speaking indistinctly throught the nose"
> murumurā "crackling"
> baḍabaḍai, "laments" (Prakrit)
> gaḍavaḍa "confusion" (Prakrit)
> Skt. gargara >P. gaggara, (“roaring”)
>
> Skt. bharabhara > P. babbhara ( “a confused,
> rumbling sound”) ,
>
> Pāli cicciṭāyati (“hiss”, “fizz”, “sizzle”),
>
> to name a few. Prakrit is a form of Middle Indic (of the Indo-Aryan group like Pali).
>
> Some dictionaries may mention that a word is believed to be OP, but they are never consistent, because it is a personal thing whether a word sounds OP or not. It would certainly be a valuable contribution to try and compile such a list,
>
> Metta, Bryan
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: frank k <fcckuan@...>
> To: pali@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 1:39:53 PM
> Subject: [Pali] pali onomatopoeia index?
>
>
>  
> Dear Pali friends,
>
> As I've been picking up new pali vocabulary, I've noticed possible
> onomatopoeia (words that sound like or suggest what they are). I'll
> abbreviate as OP from here on . Does there exist any compilation of such
> OP's, or do any dictionaries confirm whether a word is an OP?
>
> Here are a few words flipping through pali primer that seem like OP:
>
> hasati : laughs, "ha!"
> kakaca: saw (noun) makes a sound like "kakaca"
> chindati: cuts ("chin" is a cutting sound)
> patati: falls (i picture the sound of someone falling down the stairs)
> kāka: crow (doesn't a crow make a "kaw" sound?)
>
> If such a compilation does not exist, perhaps we can create a wiki page to
> compile suspected OP's?
> Such a list would be very useful for beginners who want to pick up some
> easier words to add to their vocabulary.
>
> On a related note, does such a compilation or list exist for pali words
> that are easy to learn due to common indo-european root, for examples
> "pundit" <=>"pandita"?
> "māta" <=> mamma (mother)?
>
> Metta,
> Frank
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>