The question of Pali adjectives

I do, of course, aver that the Pali language has no adjectives; and the
extensive tables of Pali grammatical technical terminology that I have
concocted (to supplement Mason's text and, I believe, supply a deficiency
found in most of the English Pali grammars) I write very much to the same
effect about these distinctions of nouns vs. adjectives vs. adverbs.

In Pali there are simply verbs and "substantives"; *however*, in deriving a
substantive from a verb, the meaning of an "adjective" is sometimes traced
back to the root along a different path than an adverb or a noun would be. 
Thus, while adjectives don't "exist", it seems as if they do when we are
examining the relationship between a root and a (substantive) meaning.  It
was the latter activity that Rett and I were engaged in --so, in this
context, while adjectives may be illusory, "the illusion is real".

We can indeed say that the adjective meaning of pavana ("pure") is quite
different from the noun meanings listed in the dictionary in question.

Re:
> 2) (p)pa + vana (forest) > (p)pavana

Yes indeed, this would seem to be a plausible derivation for this meaning
  --unrelated to the "pu" root meaning discussed.

It does seem odd that Buddhadatta's dictionary completely omits the "Pu-"
meaning --probably a deficiency that could be repaired if I knew who to send
an e-mail to about it.

E.M.



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