Thanks to Andrew for this clarification.
"Present stem" is one of those oddities of terminology that have been carried over from Latin
and Greek; in this case perhaps from Latin, where the "present stem" contrasts with the
"perfect stem". In our little book for people approaching Sanskrit from the point of view of
linguistics, Sanskrit (Languages of the World: Materials series, 18, Muenchen: Lincom
Europa 1995), the late Siew-Yue Killingley and I called it the "active stem", because all the
forms using it (whether parasmaipada or Atmanepada) are unambiguously active, so it
contrasts with the passive stem, which makes Atmanepada forms which are unambiguously
passive. In the "aorist" (which we call immediate past), "perfect" (remote past) and "future"
(predictive) Atmanepada forms can be active or passive.
Dermot (Killingley)
On 19 Jun 2018 at 19:08, Andrew Ollett via INDOLOGY wrote:
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.
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
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
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