Dear Petra and Ven. Nyanatusita,
The word parikara (or pariṣkara which is
derived from the same root, i. e. pari + kṛ, the latter with the -ṣ-
added which sometimes occurs before kṛ roots, e.g. saṃskṛta) does
in fact have a grammatical or at least rhetorical usage.
pariṣkara in Skt > parikkhara in P, and the
-a- has been lengthened.
In MW it is defined as "a partic. figure in which many
significant epithets or adjectives are employed one after the other to give
force to a statement." it refers to two sections of the Sāhitya darpana
and the Kāvyaprakāsa which are in Böthlingk and Roth and Apte:
Sāhitya darpana 704: uktirviśeṣaṇaiḥ sābhiprāyaiḥ
parikaro mataḥ "Speech with
particularizing (attributive) meanings is regarded as parikara."
Kāvyaprakāsa 10: viśeṣaṇairyat sākūtairuktiḥ
parikarastu saḥ "Speech with meaning which is attributive/particularizing,
that is parikara."
These are medieval works, but the use of the verb parikṛ
to mean "surround" or "adorn" dates from the RV (9.64.23
where it means "adorn" and 9.14.2 in the sense of
"surround").
In Pāli the word parikkhāra is derived from parikara
in the sense of "doing round" (cf parikamma) and also (according
to the PED) from parivāra (parivāreti) in the sense of covering
oneself.
In the Dh-a, 35212 parikara occurs (with
var. parikkhāra) to refer to the cloaks or girdles of the Licchavi
princes, who were shot through by Bandhula.
I also find the context of the occurrence of parikkhāra
in the Dpvs puzzling, and the fact that it occurs three times (almost as a
refrain), the first time (verse 78) after the reference to various texts being
rejected; the second time (verse 84) after a reference to violating the meaning
of the dhamma and throwing out some ganthas; and the third time (verse
89) similar to the last. The context suggests the author is talking about texts
and therefore one can understand how Oldenberg and d'Alwis arrived at their
translations.
I don't know which is correct but I wouldn't dismiss the
rhetorical or grammatical (i.e. textual) usage of parikara/parikkhāra without looking at all the
facts,
Best wishes,
Bryan