On 16/10/2012 03:14, Bryan Levman wrote:
> A question on grammar: in the gāthā,
>
>
> yassa te nābhijānāma, yampi nissāya jhāyasī”ti.
>
> why is yassa in the genitive? The verb abhijānāma would normally take an accusative, would it not?
>
> yaṃ (or taṃ) te nābhijānāma, yampi nissāya jhāyasī
>
>
> and what form is the word "te"? oblique case for tvaṃ? or nom. plural substitute for mayaṃ?
>
> Mettā,
>
>
> Bryan
The full verse is:
namo te purisājañña, namo te purisuttama,
yassa te nābhijānāma, yam pi nissāya jhāyasi
I would translate:
... homage to you, highest of men, you concerning whom we do not
comprehend anything <and we do not comprehend> what you are meditating
in dependence upon.
I think this is the same usage as you occasionally get with jānāti - a
survival of the earlier wider use of the genitive with such verbs as
smarati.
Lance Cousins