[INDOLOGY] Sanskrit grammatical terms

[Matthew Kapstein]

Dear Andrew,


You write that:

"thematic" and "athematic" in the usage of most European grammars simply mean "ending in -a" and "not ending in -a," which is captured in traditional Sanskrit grammar by "at" (see 7.2.80 and 81), or "adanta-" if you like to be more explicit....


Here is what Abhyankar, A Dictionary of Sanskrit Grammar, p. 13, has to say about adanta:

"ending with the short vowel a ... a term applied to nouns of that kind, and roots of the tenth conjugation..."


This is surely not what the 19th c. grammarians had in mind in dividing the Skt. verb system according to the categories of thematic and athematic (none of them would have spoken of deva- as "a thematic noun"!)


It seems a good example of Victor Davella's point about mixing up the terminology of differing systems.


best,

Matthew


Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago
________________________________
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Andrew Ollett via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2018 12:08:58 PM
To: indology
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Sanskrit grammatical terms

There are real vaiyākaraṇas on the list, but for what it is worth, "thematic" and "athematic" in the usage of most European grammars simply mean "ending in -a" and "not ending in -a," which is captured in traditional Sanskrit grammar by "at" (see 7.2.80 and 81), or "adanta-" if you like to be more explicit, and "present stem" is a slightly more narrow version of the verbal stem to which sārvadhātuka affixes are added (more narrow because there are sārvadhātuka suffixes that wouldn't be considered part of the present system, like khaś). I have to say, though, that I would also appreciate some information about whether this identification holds. Max Müller translated ārdhadhātuka and sārvadhātuka as "general or unmodified" tenses and "special or modified" tenses respectively.

2018-06-19 18:08 GMT+02:00 Edeltraud Harzer via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>:
Hello McComas,
A glossary of grammatical Sanskrit terms is appended to the textbook in Robert Goldman’s Devavāṇīpraveśikā starting on p. 403. They are in Sanskrit with a straight English translation at times and other times they are just explained. If your colleague is not very familiar with Sanskrit grammatical terms, it may not be easy always to find the term as in the example of the present tense: vartamāne laṭ directs you to laṭ on the preceding page. Many of the translations/explanations terms are easily found by going through the four ad half pages of the glossary.

Wishing good luck to your colleague's enterprise.

Edeltraud harzer

University of Texas at Austin
Austin, USA


On Jun 18, 2018, at 7:35 PM, McComas Taylor via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:

Dear Friends

A Cambodian colleague is translating Gonda's grammar of Sanskrit into Khmer. She would like to use Sanskrit grammatical terms where possible.

She is asking for help with the following terms:

present stem

thematic and athematic verb classes

If some kind person could respond to me, I'll forward the information to her.

With thanks in advance

Yours

McComas



------------------------------------------------------------------------
McComas Taylor, SFHEA
Associate Professor, Reader in Sanskrit
College of Asia and the Pacific
The Australian National University, Tel. + 61 2 6125 3179
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/mccomasanu/
Address: Baldessin Building 4.24, ANU, ACT 0200


Ask me about my new project:
'Translating the Viṣṇu Purāṇa'

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