Some questions about the Dhātumālā

From: Chris Valade
Message: 4812
Date: 2016-10-01

I've begun utilizing "Pali Roots in Saddanīti" by Venerable U Silananda, and I've got a few questions. It's available here: http://khemarama.com/wp-content/uploads/Pali-Roots-in-Saddaniti-by-Venerable-U-Silananda1.pdf

First off, in the introduction, pg7 (all pages listed are the PDF page in the link), discussing the Suttamālā, he says, "... in the ninth and last chapter the author dealt with the style of the language in the Texts, Commentaries, Subcommentaries and other treatises. Towards the end of this chapter he mentioned the three kinds of kathās (talks, taken from the Anuṭīkā to Kathāvatthu), five members of syllogism, 32 Tantrayuttis (ways of understanding treatises), all in some detail."

Could someone shed some light on the 3 kinds of kathās, the five members of syllogism Saddanīti discussed, and the 32 Tantrayuttis?  Is there an English translation of this part, or will I merely have to wait until my Pāḷi is up to snuff to read it in detail?

For the entries that don't list a Sanskrit root (e.g., 'cara' [I], pg65), is this merely because there is not Sanskrit root, or what's going on?

The significance of commas, semicolons, and 'and' in the definitions is confusing my little brain. E.g., 'cāyu' pg66, has, "pūjā-nisāmanesu = venerating, honoring and looking; hearing." It seems that 'and' is separating the English translations of the Pāḷi definitions of the root, that the semicolon is separating different translations for the same word, and the comma is separating synonyms used to clarify the meaning?

Finally, as far as I can tell, Saddanīti made an error with the root 'sevu,' pg 199, in defining it as, "secane = sprinkling; pouring." I checked the Dhātumālā, and it has, "Sevu kevu khevu gevu gilevu mevu milevu secane. Sevati. Kevati. Khevati. Gevati. Gilevati. Mevati milevati."

I looked for words in Pāḷi that start with 'sev' and have a meaning even close to 'sprinkling; pouring' and found nothing, nor doing an English-Pāḷi search could I find anything that made sense. Plus, Warder and Duroseille give '√sev' as meaning to serve, associate, etc.

Then in trying to look up the other verbs listed after 'sevati' ... I found nothing. I even tried a Sanskrit-English dictionary and got nothing. I didn't do a ton of searching, but also couldn't find any Pāḷi words that seem to have any of the other roots listed after 'sevu.' What is going on here?!

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Mettā,
Chris

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