[INDOLOGY] yāvantaḥ kiyantaḥ

[Brendan S. Gillon, Prof.]

Greetings,

One possibility is that MW had in mind constructions with `as many as' where an expression may occur between the occurrence of `as many' and the second occurrence of `as': as many X as Y.
There are as many men as women in the room.
As many people speak Gujarati as speak Marathi.

Best wishes,
Brendan


On 2023-12-14 13:03, Allen, Michael S (msa2b) via INDOLOGY wrote:
Dear Herman,

I can't help with the TBr reference, but I thought it might be helpful to note that "as many as" need not take a number in English. It's grammatically possible to say, e.g., "As many as commit violence will be brought to justice" (with the meaning "however many," as Hans suggests).

This usage is probably archaic—I can't imagine hearing it today outside of intentionally rhetorical, poetic, or jocular contexts—but it would have been familiar to Monier-Williams. It's employed frequently in the King James Bible, for example.

Best wishes,
Michael

Michael S. Allen
Associate Professor
Department of Religious Studies
University of Virginia


________________________________
From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info><mailto:indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info><mailto:indology at list.indology.info>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2023 12:31 PM
To: Indology List <indology at list.indology.info><mailto:indology at list.indology.info>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] yāvantaḥ kiyantaḥ

Dear list members,

In the Āyāraṃgasutta a phrase is found corresponding to Skt yāvantaḥ kiyantaḥ. MW gives as its meaning "as many as". I am not a native speaker of English, but as far as I know this phrase is specifically used with numbers ("as many as a hundred people ...). In the passage concerned there is no number. It functions as a subject to either a verb meaning "they commit violence" or nouns/adjectives like araṃbhajīvī and pariggahāvaṃtī.
MW refers to TBr, without, however, a place or an example.
I hope someone on the list can provide me with an (or the) example from the TBr or any other text.

With kind regards, Herman


Herman Tieken
Stationsweg 58
2515 BP Den Haag
The Netherlands
00 31 (0)70 2208127
website: hermantieken.com<http://hermantieken.com/>

The Aśoka Inscriptions: Analysing a corpus, New Delhi: Primus Books, 2023.
https://primusbooks.com/ancient/the-asoka-inscriptions-analysing-a-corpus-by-herman-tieken/






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--

Brendan S. Gillon                       email: brendan.gillon at mcgill.ca<mailto:brendan.gillon at mcgill.ca>
Department of Linguistics
McGill University                       tel.:  001 514 398 4868
1085, Avenue Docteur-Penfield
Montreal, Quebec                        fax.:  001 514 398 7088
H3A 1A7  CANADA

webpage: http://webpages.mcgill.ca/staff/group3/bgillo/web/

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