[INDOLOGY] infinitive as the subject of a finite verb in Sanskrit

Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) H.J.H.Tieken at hum.leidenuniv.nl
Wed Jun 15 11:14:42 UTC 2022


Dear Gaia
I have no direct answer to you question. I do like to point, however, to the verbal noun in -aṇa, which in Apabhraṃśa is used as an infinitive (see Pischel's Prākrit grammar, par. 579).
With kind regards, Herman

Herman Tieken
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2515 BP Den Haag
The Netherlands
00 31 (0)70 2208127
website: hermantieken.com<http://hermantieken.com/>
________________________________
Van: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> namens Gaia Pintucci via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
Verzonden: woensdag 15 juni 2022 09:50
Aan: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
Onderwerp: [INDOLOGY] infinitive as the subject of a finite verb in Sanskrit

Dear list members,

have you come across the infinitive used as the subject of finite verbs in Sanskrit?
It is the way Rudrabhaṭṭa seems to use it in Śṛṅgāratilaka 1.116d* (p. 31 of Pischel's edition):
āstāṃ rantum aho nirīkṣitum api preyān na sambhāvitaḥ ||
Anvaya: preyān nirīkṣituṃ na sambhāvito rantum āstām.
Rough English tr.: The beloved was not honoured to be looked at, forget about making love.
Is this kind of construction fully acceptable?
The Śṛṅgāratilaka commentator Gopālabhaṭṭa does not address the matter.

Speijer (pp. 306-307) declares that the infinitive "nowhere serves to express the subject, predicate or object of a sentence", but in note 1 on p. 307 he adds: "in such expressions as vidyate bhoktum, labhate bhoktum we may speak of the infinitive as the subject and object of the finite verb, but this is so only from a logical point of view; and it is, indeed, not considered so by Sanskrit-speakers".

I would be of course very grateful for references, etc.

All the best,
Gaia Pintucci


PS: *Here for the sake of completeness you have 116a-c:
mīlanmantharacakṣuṣā paripatatkāñcīgrahavyagrayā
gāḍhānaṅgabharasravajjaghabayā kampoparuddhāṅgayā |
sarvāṅgaiś caṭukārako 'py abalayā saṅketake kautukād

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