SV: Nicca

Hello,

As Jim explains Pali nicca is derived from ni + tya. The Paninian rule is
beyond doubt. However, ni is not etymologically identical with the
preposition ni that denotes a downward action. It appears to denote
something that is within something else, something internal and essential,
hence unalterable. This fits very well with recorded usage. The grammarians,
however, assumed that they were describing the same morpheme. There are
Vedic and IE cognates, though. One may compare Vedic ani, which would
suggest that ni is derived from IE *eni, the initial vowel being elided.

Ole Pind

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: palistudy@yahoogroups.com [mailto:palistudy@yahoogroups.com] På vegne
af Jim Anderson
Sendt: 20. oktober 2006 19:28
Til: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Emne: Re: [palistudy] Nicca

Stephen,

Now that I have full access to my books again, I can follow up on my earlier
message. I think Ven. Dhammanando has provided sufficient material from the
commentaries and so there is no need for me to look for more. I'd just like
to add more to my earlier remarks on the Pali and Sanskrit derivations:

> I looked up 'nitya' in Apte's Skt. dictionary and found this
> derivation on p.898: [niyamena niyata.m vaa bhava.m ni-ty-p; cf. P.
> IV.2.104. vaart.]. ... Not sure if the 'ni' refers to the prefix or to
> a coalescence of 'na' + 'i'.

"ni-ty-p" should read ni-tya-p, my mistake. The taddhita suffix 'tyap' (the
'p' is indicatory and dropped) is added to the prefix 'ni' to give us
'nitya'. Paa.n IV.2.104 states: avyayaattyap (tyap after an indeclinable).
The first vaartika states: tyabnerdhruve (tyap after 'ni' in (the sense of)
dhruva -- fixed). This is all very clear and straightforward.

> naasabhaavena na icca.m na gantabba.m nicca.m, naasa.m vaa na
> gacchatiiti nicca.m. (Abh-.t ad Abh 41 -- CSCD version 3 disk)

How it is derived in Pali is problematic. In checking some of the native
Pali grammars, the derivation is treated differently from the above. Kacc-v
638 (Burmese) gives "nitana.m nicca.m"; Mmd on Kacc 638: "niccanti niti
nicce tiimassa ruupa.m"; Ruup 660: "niti nicce nicca.m"; Sd 1260:
"sata-nata-nitato tyo. sacca.m, nacca.m, nicca.m". I'm not able to find an
entry for 'nitana.m', 'nita', or 'niti' in a dictionary. Perhaps 'nitana.m'
is derived from ni+tan?

Best wishes,
Jim


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