se.t.tha.m -- derivation 1

This part only covers the first of six ways of deriving 'se.t.tha.m'
which is the way the old grammars explain it. The second way is found
in the Kaccaayana-va.n.nanaa (ca 1600 A.D.) and the remaining four are
found in the .tiikaa (1945 A.D.?) to the Namakkaarapaa.li. I'm
covering the first derivation here as it is long enough as it is. I've
introduced three suttas from Kaccayana.

se.t.tha.m -- from Kc introductory verse 1

se.t.tho -- pasattho visesenaa ti. -- Kacc-va.n.n

"The Best One" -- the one praised by distinction.

se.t.thanti gu.namahantattaa pasatthatara.m. so hi pasatthaana.m
visesena pasatthoti se.t.thoti vuccati. pasatthapada.m, visesataddhite
i.t.thapaccayo. pasatthasaddassa so, pasatthaana.m
paccekabuddhaariyasaavakaadiina.m siilasamaadhipa~n~naadigu.nehi
visesena pasatthoti attho.

"se.t.tha.m" -- the most praised one owing to the magnitude of (his)
qualities. Because he is praised by distinction among those who are
praised, he is called 'se.t.tho' (the Best One). The word 'pasattha'
(praised), the affix 'i.t.tha' as a taddhita affix (in the sense) of
distinction, 'sa' in the room of 'pasattha'. The meaning is: among the
paccekabuddhas, noble disciples and so on with their qualities of
morality, concentration, understanding and so on who are praised, he
is praised by distinction.

Comments:

"se.t.tha.m" (the Best One) is a masculine singular noun (se.t.tho) in
the accusative case. Syntactically, it is the object or patient of the
absolutive or gerund 'abhivandiya' (having saluted or venerated). It
is composed of the substitute (aadesa) 'sa' + the visesa-taddhita
affix 'i.t.tha' and the second (accusative) case singular termination
'a.m'.

The following rule deals with the 'sa' before 'i.t.tha' as well as
'iya':

Kc 263 (Sii 265). pasatthassa so ca.
sabbasseva pasatthasaddassa so aadeso hoti, jaadeso ca iya i.t.tha
iccetesu paccayesu. seyyo, se.t.tho, jeyyo, je.t.tho.

In the room of the whole word 'pasattha' there is the substitute 'sa'
and 'ja' before the affixes 'iya' and 'i.t.tha'.

The Sinhalese version of Kc (Sii 265) differs in several respects (see
my msg no. 684) among which the following is included: "sabbe ime
pasatthaa ayamimesa.m visesena pasatthoti se.t.tho." (These/they are
all praised, of these/them this one is praised by distinction.) I'm
not quite sure how 'visesena' should be understood. If we replace 'by
distinction' with 'by comparison', I think the meaning is made
clearer. The Pali term for the affixes of comparison is
visesa-taddhita of which there are five. The following sutta should
help:

Kc 363 (365). visese taratamisikiyi.t.thaa.
  visesatthe tara tama isika iya i.t.thaiccete paccayaa honti.
sabbe ime paapaa, ayamimesa.m visesena paapo ti paapataro. eva.m
paapatamo, paapisiko, paapiyo, paapi.t.tho.

Kc 363 (365). In (the sense of) distinction: tara, tama, isika, iya,
i.t.tha. In the sense of distinction or differentiation, there are
these affixes: tara tama isika iya i.t.tha. eg. paapataro -- they are
all bad, of them this one by distinction is the worst. Similarly:
paapatamo, paapisiko, paapiyo, paapi.t.tho.

The next topic to consider is the coalescence of 'sa' + 'i.t.tha' into
'se.t.tha'. How does one explain the 'e'? In the .tiikaa to the
Abhidhaanappadiipikaa on se.t.tha (and seyya) there is this gloss:

iyi.t.thesu pasatthassa, vu.d.dhassa ca so, seyyo, se.t.tho
ca,``kvacaasava.n.na.m lutte''ti isse. -- Abh-.t 695 [note: I think
'vu.d.dhassa' (aged, old) is a mistake as it only applies to the
substitue 'ja' (jeyya, je.t.tha) according to Kc]

The expression -- ``kvacaasava.n.na.m lutte''ti isse. -- is of
importance here because it points to a sandhi rule explaining the 'e'
in place of 'i' (isse = issa e).

Kc 14. kvacaasava.n.na.m lutte.
  saro kho paro pubbasare lutte kvaci asava.n.na.m pappoti.
  sa"nkhya.m nopeti vedaguu, bandhusseva samaagamo.
  kvaciiti kasmaa? yassindriyaani, tathuupama.m dhammavara.m adesayi.

Kc 14. In some cases the non-homorganic vowel when (the antecedent
vowel is) elided. The subsequent vowel when the antecedent vowel is
elided attains to a non-homorganic vowel in some cases.

Comment: There are three pairs of homorganic vowels: ava.n,no (short
and long a) and similarly for iva.n.no & uva.n.no for short and long i
and u. a & aa are homorganic to each other but not to i or u. The
non-homorganic vowel (asava.n.na.m) is one of the remaining two:
either e or o. The rule is stating that as in the case of sa +
i.t.tha, the 'a' of sa is elided while the 'i' is changed into 'e'.
The examples given in the rule are:

sa"nkhya.m nopeti vedaguu -- nopeti = na upeti. (the u is changed to
o); bandhusseva samaagamo -- bandhusseva = bandhussa iva

The rule does not apply in all cases, eg.:

yassindriyaani = yassa indriyaani (the initial i did not change to e)
tathuupama.m = tathaa upama.m (the u did not change to o)

Best wishes,
Jim