B. Clough's 1824 Pali grammar

Dear Members,

Here's some detailed information on one of the two books George mentioned a
few days ago. On the tilte page is the following:

A Compendious Pali Grammar, with a copious vocabularly in the same language.
By the Rev. Benjamin Clough. Colombo: Printed at the Wesleyan Mission Press.
1824

On the back of the page is stamped:

  HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
       FROM THE ESTATE OF
CHARLES ROCKWELL LANMA N
            MARCH 15. 1941

This shows that this particular copy once belonged to C.R. Lanman. There
appears to be no table of contents in the book so I put one together as
follows:

I. Of the Elements. pp. 1-8; §§ 1-16
II. On the Permutation of Letters. pp. 9-17; §§ 17-58
III. Declension of Nouns. pp. 17-52: §§ 59-84
IV. Declension of Pronouns and Pronominal Attributes. pp. 52-68; §§ 85-107
V. Indeclinable Words. pp. 68-77; §§ 108-117
VI. On the Formation of Compound Words. pp. 77-88; §§ 118-125
VII. On the Formation of Derivative Words. pp. 88-99; §§ 126-134
VIII. Conjugattion of Verbs. pp. 99-112; §§ 135-156
IX. On the Formation of Participles and Participial Nouns. pp. 112-123;
X. Syntax. pp. 123-147
Pali Verbs. pp. 1-4 [Go to page 150 for page 2]

According to the advertisement (p. iv) the book should contain three main
parts making up a total of 324 pages but the last part consisting of 156
pages (the vocabulary) is missing in the Google scan and it would seem that
only the first 4 of 20 pages of the middle part (the Pali verbal roots) are
included. On p. iii, the author claims that no book on the Pali language had
ever been published before---making this one the first of its kind. The book
contains a lot of Sinhalese printing for the Pali words. It seems that the
work was originally begun by W. Tolfrey and completed by Rev. B. Clough. I
have included below the entire advertisement (or preface) after some
proofreading and correcting:

[p. iii]                     ADVERTISEMENT.

     THESE works were first undertaken by the justly ceJebrated Oriental
Linguist W. TOI,FREY, Esq. late of H. M. Civil Service in Cevlon.  The
former work was considerably advanced by that Gentleman, and the latter also
brought into a state of great forwardness. They are now completed, revised,
and corrected.
     The Pali has undoubtedly a high claim to the attention of the literary
world.  It has long been a contested point whether the Pali or Sanskrit be,
the more ancient language of India ; it is certain, that Pali was (he
popular dialect of the nalive country of Buddho, namely Magadha, before the
powerful sect founded by him, was expelled from the continent of India, an
event prior to the Christian Æ ra. Jts literature contains a considerable
number of volumes both in prose and verse ; which, whatever may be their
merits in other respects, form the only authentic depositary of Budclhism,
and the learning in general of Ceylon, and the whole of India beyond the
Ganges, to which the Pali now is, and has been for many centuries, what
Sanskrit is in India Proper, and Latin in Europe.

                                               [ iv. ]

     But although so ancient, so widely spread, and containing so many
valuable records of antiquity, yet nothing has hitherto been published
respecting the Pali language;  hence in many excellent papers in the Asiatic
Researches it still appears as an unknown world. It is therefore hoped that
a short Grammar with a Vocabulary, cannot fail of being acceptable to the
learned in general.

     The Grammar is chiefly a translation of a celebrated Work called
Baalaavataara, and the Vocabulary of nouns, of one equally famed
Abhidhaanappadiîpikaa.  To which also is added, by the editor, the
Dhaatuma~njuusa, or a collection of Pali roots with a Pali interpretation,
and the third person singular of the present tense of the verbs formed from
each root, with an English translation.

<end quote>

This may be a suitable work for the group to study as it's accessible (in
the public domain) and it's supposedly a translation of an important Pali
grammatical work belonging to the Kaccaayana school.

Best wishes,
Jim Anderson


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