se.t.tho -- derivation 5

Derivation 5

Text: atha vaa santaana.m sappurisaana.m hitasukha.m icchatiiti
se.t.tho, buddho. kattusaadhanoya.m.  -- Namakkaara.tiikaa, p.11

Translation: Or, he wishes for the happiness and welfare of wise ones,
of good persons; thus 'se.t.tho', buddho. This (=se.t.tho) has the
function of the agent.

Comments:

1) On "he wishes for the happiness and welfare of wise ones, of good
persons", I have some reservations about the appropriateness of this
derivation because it excludes those who are not wise or
good--suggesting the Buddha's wish is a limited one.

2) On "kattusaadhanoya.m" (= kattusaadhano aya.m). I take
'kattusaadhano' to be a bahubbiihi compound because of the masc. 'o'
termination of the normally neuter '-saadhana.m' making it an
adjective modifying 'se.t.tho'. I have not yet been able to find a
translation of 'saadhana' for this context in any of my dictionaries
or grammars--so 'function' will do for the time being. The
Abhidhaanappadiipikaa (Abh 890) gives two synonyms: siddhi
(accomplishment) & kaaraka (performer, participant). On pp. 68-9 of
the Saddaniiti there is an explanation of 'saadhana' in a technical
use that is applicable here. It is similar in meaning to 'kaaraka' but
the two are used differently. There are seven kinds of saadhanas:

bhaavasaadhana.m, kattusaadhana.m, kammasaadhana.m,
kara.nasaadhana.m, sampadaanasaadhana.m, apaadaanasaadhana.m,
& adhikara.nasaadhana.m.

These can be compared with the six kaarakas beginning with
kattukaaraka.m and ending with okaasakaaraka.m (there is no
bhaavakaaraka.m among them). There is a translation and critical study
of Aggava.msa's kaaraka suttas by E.G. Kahrs in JPTS XVII where he
also brings up the 7 saadhanas.

My understanding of the application of the saadhanas is still
elementary. I think the saadhanas has a lot to do with determining the
(independent) function of a nominal word before its syntactical
relation in an actual sentence is considered. It relates to what we
call 'action nouns' or 'agent nouns' in English. For example,
'bhaavasaadhana.m' explains the meaning of the word in the function of
an action noun (nomen actionis) and 'kattusaadhana.m' refers to the
agent noun (nomen agentis). I also see in Latin that there is a 'nomen
instrumenti' and a 'nomen loci' which have their counterparts in Pali.
The saadhana of a word can be determined by understanding how the word
is derived especially with respect to the primary affix used or
looking up its traditional nibbacana (derivation) found in grammars
and commentaries. This information helps to determine the syntactical
function of the word in a sentence, eg. an agent noun is often the
agent (kattukaaraka) of the verb. However, the agent noun can also
function in other roles such as the object or patient of the verb or
absolutive such as 'se.t.tha.m' being the object (a kammakaaraka) of
'abhivandiya' (having saluted) in the verse being studied.

Best wishes,

Jim