Re: jaññā

From: Bryan Levman
Message: 4580
Date: 2016-03-26

Thanks Jim,

Saddanīti gives the quote (from Ja. 539)  jaññā so yadi hāyaye (or hāpaye), "he would know if he abandons..." and here the commentary specifically equates jaññā = jāneyya.

Sadd (834) also gives the same equivalence (as you point out) for ññā = iyā = eyya (jaññā = jāniyā = jāneyya), although how phonologically -ññā can be a substitute for -eyya, I can't see. The -eyya ending rather seems to come from the Skt. thematic conjugations in ātmanepada form (e.g. bhaveta in Skt. > bhaveyya in Pāli), which is a simple enough transformation (lenition of an intervocalic stop > a glide), not from the jānīyāt form. So the reason jñā became so complicated is that it adopted both the thematic and the non-thematic forms of the Skt. conjugations (or they just got mixed up, as people forgot the difference). If one looks in Fuchs there over two pages of different forms for the jñā verb, much more than in Skt.

Best wishes,  Bryan



From: "'Jim Anderson' jimanderson.on@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: Pali Study Group <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2016 5:02 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] jaññā

 
Some observations:

I had a brief look at how the verb "jañña" is formed from the perspective of
traditional Pali grammar, especially that of Kaccāyana with the help of its
commentary, the Nyāsa (Mmd). There are also parallel rules given in the
Saddanīti and Moggallāna.

According to Mmd ad Kacc 470 (Burmese numbering), jaññā is made up of two
substitutes (ādesa-s): jaṃ (for √ñā) and ñā (for eyya. opt. 3rd pers.
sing.). It goes into some detail on how the word is formed, mostly through
quoting a number of other rules from Kaccāyana. Similarly, it also explains
"jāniyā" (another optional optative form, 3rd pers. sing).

I do not find anything about jaññā being also used for the 2nd pers. sing.
or the 3rd pers. plural optative which could easily have been included in
Kacc 508.

Best wishes,

Jim




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