[INDOLOGY] Sanskrit grammatical terms

Thu Jun 21 20:30:54 UTC 2018

Just a footnote on the issue of ārdhadhātuka/sārvadhātuka and the ten
verbal classes, as many will already know, the topic was definitively
discussed by Betty Shefts in

Shefts, B. (1961) *Grammatical Method in **Pāṇini*, American Oriental
Series . New Haven: American Oriental Society. Available at:
https://archive.org/details/SheftsBettyGrammaticalMethodInPaniniHisTreatmentOfSanskritPresentStemsBSheeftsNe_201803,
pp. 14 ff. *et passim*.

--
Professor Dominik Wujastyk <http://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk>
,

Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
,

Department of History and Classics <http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
,
University of Alberta, Canada
.

South Asia at the U of A:

sas.ualberta.ca

On Wed, 20 Jun 2018 at 07:38, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Thanks, Victor, for your note of caution.  It is not always possible to
> render Pāṇinian terms into modern Latinate terms.  Terms like "active" and
> "middle" fall in the same catetory.  They don't match Parasmaipada and
> Ātmanepada, or kartari and karmaṇi in Pāṇini.
>
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor Emeritus
> Sanskrit and Linguistics
> University of Michigan
> [Residence: Campbell, California]
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 6:21 AM victor davella via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> It is worth keeping in mind that (an)at/(an)adanta etc. are entirely
>> formal in Pāṇini's grammar and have been rightly translated as "that which
>> ends (or does not end) in shot a." What specifically ends (or does not end)
>> in short a must be ascertained from the larger context of the sūtra. For
>> example,  P. 7.1.5 ātmanepadeṣv anataḥ prescribes that at (and not ant) be
>> substituted for jh in jha, the suffix for the 3rd person plural ātm. (or
>> 1st person if we wish to be Pāṇinian) given in P. 3.4.78. anataḥ, "of that
>> which does not end in short a," modifies aṅga, "stem," (not specified to
>> either a verbal or a nominal form), which is continued from P. 6.4.1
>> aṅgasya. This is how Pāṇini formulates a rule that one might give to
>> students as: in the non-thematic verbal classes, there is no n in the 3rd
>> person pl. ātm., as apposed to labhante, padyante, etc. of the thematic
>> classes.  But Pāṇini's rule extends beyond the present tense stems and in
>> fact should not be strictly associated with anything other than "that which
>> does not end in short a" because it is by this same rule that aorist forms
>> are distinguished as well: adikṣanta vs. aneṣata, etc. If we wish to use
>> thematic and non-thematic as a sort of  equivalent for Pāṇinian
>> (an)at/(an)adanta, then it is crucial to include all places in the verbal
>> paradigm where being (an)adanta comes into play.   On the other hand, just
>> a few sūtras later, at is used in reference to a nominal form in P. 7.1.9
>> ato bhisa ais, in which case at (= adanta) again modifies aṅga but one that
>> is now nominal. The rule prescribes the substitution of ais for bhis, the
>> latter of which is the basic ending for the instrumental plural (tṛtīyā
>> vibhakti), hence devaiḥ and not devabhiḥ*. In any case, at/adanta is
>> neither restricted to nominal or verbal forms nor the present stem.
>>
>> I find Abhyankar's entry on adanta somewhat misleading, as least as
>> quoted, and not terribly informative of how (an)at/(an)adanta is used in in
>> the Aṣṭādhyāyī. The business about "roots of the tenth conjugation which
>> are given with the letter a at their end which is not looked upon as mute
>> (it)..." is a bit recherché and refers to a list of roots in the curādi
>> gaṇa of the Pāṇinian dhātupāṭha. In Liebich's edition it begins on p. 190
>> with the head adantāḥ ita ā gaṇāntād ...  The reason, I believe, that he
>> gives slightly obscure references is that he was looking for specific
>> instances of adanta in the Aṣṭādhyāyī and not at, which, however, is
>> usually to be understood as adanta. The opening sentence of his entry,
>> nonetheless, repeats more or less the translation that has already been
>> said: "ending with the short vowel a".
>>
>> All systems of grammar are fictional, and in teaching Sanskrit or
>> whatever language, the terminology and categories that make the most sense
>> in a specific context should be used. Comparison of preexisting systems,
>> such as that of Pāṇini (we should also recall that there are other systems
>> with different terminology and different definitions for the same Pāṇinian
>> terms), should only be undertaken once the object of comparison is well
>> understood and beginning Sanskrit is usually not the place to begin such a
>> comparison. I do, however, support familiarization with Pāṇinian
>> terminology but as it is defined by Pāṇini himself, not in reference to
>> Latinate terms.
>>
>> All the Best,
>> Victor
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 7:08 AM Chlodwig H Werba via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Colleagues,
>>> In the given context, Andrew is -- pace Matthew -- absolutely right:
>>> Every historical linguist not only in the 19th cent., but also nowadays
>>> (as myself in the field of Indo-Iranian studies) would classify the
>>> inherited skt. devá- as a thematic noun and, e.g., its derivational
>>> basis in Proto-Indo-European, being continued in Vedic Skt. by
>>> dyáv-/div-´ 'heaven', as an athematic one.
>>> With best regards
>>> Chlodwig H. Werba
>>>
>>>
>>> Am 20.06.2018 12:53, schrieb Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY:
>>> > 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>:
>>> >
>>> >> 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> 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/ [1]
>>> >>> Address: Baldessin Building 4.24, ANU, ACT 0200
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Ask me about my new project:
>>> >>> 'TRANSLATING THE VIṢṆU PURĀṆA'
>>> >>>
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