Sanskrit tongue-twister

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Dear Alex Passi,


I will not try to analyse this, but the verse is from the Kiratarjuniya:
XV,14.

It is mentioned in Mylius' history of Sanskrit literature as an example of
"poetic extremism" (my expression). 

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



 

From: 
Dr.art. Lars Martin Fosse 
Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114, 
0674 Oslo - Norway 
Phone: +47 22 32 12 19 Fax:  +47 850 21 250 
Mobile phone: +47 90 91 91 45 
E-mail: lmfosse at chello.no 
http://www.linguistfinder.com/translators.asp?id=2164



 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of 
> Alex Passi
> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 12:53 PM
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Subject: Sanskrit tongue-twister
> 
> Dear List-Members,
> 
> I just received a query from a retired journalist, re. the 
> purpoted Skt. sequence "nanonanunnonunnono", which is 
> supposed to translate as: "the lesser should not try to 
> compete with the greater".
> The best I could do with it, without diacritics, is more or less
> nonsense: "He who is indeed wet for us is not un-wet for us" 
> (na no nanu +unno 'nunno no[=na.h). ;-) It's possible that 
> the text was transmitted garbled -- perhaps the adjective 
> ^una fit in the original somewhere.
> I'm quite stumped, though the passage sounds somewhat 
> familiar. Does anyone have any ideas?
> 
> Alex (Alessandro) Passi,
> Dipartimento Studi Linguistici
> e Orientali
> Università di Bologna,
> Via Zamboni 33
> Bologna, 40126, Italy.
> 
> a.passi at alma.unibo.it
> alexpassi at gmail.com
> +39-051-209.8472
> cellphone +39-338.269.4933
> fax +39-051-209.8443.