Re: Ablative/-to

Dear Tadao,

>Hi, Jim:
>So, are you saying that any case endings can possible mark (at least)
>a few different cases and that the /-to/ is slightly exceptional in
>the sense that it can mark more than a few cases?
>tadao

Not quite. From looking at some of the suttas in 588-661 in the Saddaniti
one can see that some cases can also function in the sense of some other
cases (with some restrictions). I have not done any detailed study on this
so it is a little difficult for me to accurately express this feature of
case usage. The case endings and their substitutes in nominal words are in a
different category from the affix /-to/ in the function of a universal case
ending and forming indeclinables. It is more like the affixes tra, tha, daa,
etc. found in tatra, tattha, tadaa, etc. but these affixes unlike /-to/ are
more limited in scope.

>P.S. I can see your previous claim that the Sanskrit /tas/ corresponds
>to the Pali /-to/, given the fact that the Sanksrit /as/ (or /a.h/)
>are regulary/surfacely realized as /o/.

A good example is the one I mentioned earlier from the Rgveda: ato bhuuya.h
(more than that). I'm not sure if I'm correct in thinking that /-to/ is not
likely to have been originally a word. I'm wondering if it can be linked to
the English preposition "to". The Concise Oxford English dictionary gives
its first meaning as: "1. In the direction of (place, person, thing,
condition, quality, etc.) with or without implication of intention or
arrival." which seems like a possible match for the use of Sanskrit /-tas/
in Panini IV.III.113-4 in the sense of "in the same direction with that"
(tenaikadik) -- instrumental. Also COD: "2. as far as, not short of" & "3.
(of comparison, . . .)" point to its ablative uses. I'm not sure of 4. but
5. with the indirect object & 6. with the to-infinitive -- point to its
dative uses. I thought perhaps the /-to/ could have got separated and became
a word in itself in the Germanic languages. Or was it the other way around
and got tacked on in Sankrit and Pali?

Jim


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