Re: Jim's Questions Addressed 2

Dear Suan,

Jim: My understanding is that each one of those short so-called
statements in the Ekakanipaata is a sutta.

Suan: I do like the idea of calling those unitary Paali lines or
unitary passages suttam. After all, is not another meaning of the
term "suttam" a thread? Moreover, each aphorism in traditional Saddaa
texts is called a sutta.

So we could even translate the phrase "navame" as "in the ninth
thread" or as "in the ninth aphorism.

Jim: I think my preference would be just to leave it untranslated like Nina
did. The standard definition of "sutta" is found in the following verse:

"atthaana.m suucanato, suvuttato savanatotha suudanato.
suttaa.naa suttasabhaagato ca, suttanti akkhaata.m.." (Sp, Sv, As)

which is fully explained by its commentary and subcommentary. I think most
people probably think that "sutta" is just the Pali counterpart of the Skt.
"suutra" only. But, according to the verse above, five other additional
etymologies of the term are given. "suvutta" (well-stated) is similar to
Skt. suukta (su + ukta).

Jim: Thanks for the information. Have you ever seen that gigantic
Pali-Myanmar dictionary Teng Kee has mentioned a few times? I forget
how many volumes he said it had, maybe 15 or so. I don't know the
Myanmar language but I can read its script for Pali. I have two Pali
grammars and the Abhidhaanappadiipikaa in that script.

Suan: What a coincidence! I was thinking about mentioning to you this
gigantic Pali-Myanmar dictionary. I strongly recommend you to get
hold of as many volumes as available. Even if you do not read Myanmar
language, with your knowledge of Myanmar script, you can still use it
as a Pali-Pali dictionary because it either defines terms in Pali or
provides quotation sentences in which the terms appear, helping you
to be able to figure out the meaning. Plus extensive references in
Pali abbreviations.

I have 8 arbitrary volumes of this great dictionary, and plan to get
remaining volumes. I do not know how many!

Jim: Thank-you for the information about this dictionary. I'll certainly
consider getting a hold of these volumes if I can. Could you give me the
contact address of the bookseller? The largest European dictionary, of
course, is the Critical Pali Dictionary published in Copenhagen. I have the
first two volumes which cover only the vowels a-o. The second volume of
17 fascicles is very expensive and I'm not sure if I want to buy any more
fascicles. Does the Burmese dictionary show the derivation of the
entry-words in some detail? Perhaps you could type out an example picked
at random from one of your volumes. I think I'd find a Pali-Pali dictionary
quite useful.

Best wishes,
Jim


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