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@list.indology.info> on behalf of Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2023 12:31 PM
To: Indology List <indology@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
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The Aśoka Inscriptions: Analysing a corpus, New Delhi: Primus Books, 2023.