Re: abhikkamosānaṃ

Dear Bhante Bhikkhu Bodhi,

I agree with James that esānaṃ is a gender mismatch for vedanānaṃ. Therefore, I would attempt to give my own take on it.

Both abhikkamosānaṃ and paṭikkamosanaṃ are in my opinion relative (bahubbīhi) compounds.

It would be clearer if we start with paṭikkamosanaṃ. It is: "paṭikkama + osāna" to be rendered literally as "the one having a retreat at the end," i.e., "the one which would retreat at the end." So it clearly means the kind of sickness that one would eventually recover from.

abhikkamosānaṃ is: "abhikkama + osāna" to be rendered literally as "the one having an increase at the end," i.e., "the one which would only increase to the end."  According to the commentator, the "end" is death. So the kind of sickness that would get worse and worse until the time of death is called "abhikkamosanaṃ."

with much metta and respect,

Ven. Pandita (Burma)

On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 10:24 PM, 'James Anderson' jimanderson.on@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

On following up, I see a problem with the abhikkamo esānaṃ interpretation in that esānaṃ is listed by Aggavaṃsa and Geiger as a masc. or neuter gen. or dat.  plural form of the pronominal base ima. But only imāsaṃ (also imāsānaṃ in Geiger) is given for the feminine. I’m assuming that the masc./neut. pronoun esānaṃ is being used here to qualify an implied vedanānaṃ which is feminine  and therefore a mismatch.

 

Jim

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Ven. Pandita (Burma)

Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies,
University of Kelaniya,
Sri Lanka