I have long asked myself about the point of doing Indology in its purely philological guise.

The Angulimala-sutta conveys the images of violence and offers suggestions for resolving conflicts - irrespective of whether the Pali suffix -sutta is derived from the OIA -su-ukta or -sutra.  

But, perhaps, this differentiation affects our understanding of the text?

Artur

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wt., 11 maj 2021 o 19:12 Artur Karp <karp@uw.edu.pl> napisał(a):
Dear colleagues, 
the question of the etymology of the Pali term sutta is interesting in itself. 

But - can its resolution broaden our understanding of the institution of slavery in ancient India? 
Would it help us to better understand the ideological bases of genocidal practices directed against tribal communities? 
The phenomenon of untouchability?

Best,

Artur

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wt., 11 maj 2021 o 18:47 Rupert Gethin via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> napisał(a):
Could someone confirm the wider Prakrit evidence?

Tim commented with reference to the Pali commentarial explanation of sutta as suvutta:

But this is not really much to support sutta < sūkta, since the regular Pāli form parallel to sūkta includes the glide -v-, as Skt ukta ~ Pāli vutta and similarly in other MIA languages, which all seem to preserve the initial v- of the verbal root *vac- (Pischel §337), despite the vowel change a > u before a labial (§104).

But unless I am misreading something here, Pischel (§337) notes that Jaina Śaurasenī, Śaurasenī and Māgadhī all have utta < ukta

And Turner’s A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages includes Prakrit sutta under sūkta:

13545 sūktá ʻ well recited ʼ RV., ʻ eloquent ʼ MatsyaP. [su -- 2, uktá -- ]
Pk. sutta -- ʻ handsomely said ʼ; OG. sūta ʻ speaking properly ʼ.


Rupert
--
Rupert Gethin
Professor of Buddhist Studies

University of Bristol
Department of Religion and Theology
3 Woodland Road
Bristol BS8 1TB, UK

Email: Rupert.Gethin@bristol.ac.uk


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