10.3: A collection, an occasion, a likeness, a dependence, an abundance

Info

Part of “A Beginner (Non-Linguist) Guide to Learning Pali”

A noun can take an affix that adds a sense to it instead of naming a new thing. janatā (“the people”) is jana (“person”) with tā, “a collection of persons”; abhijjhālu (“covetous”) is abhijjhā (“covetousness”) with ālu, “one in whom covetousness abounds”. Kaccāyana gives six such rules, one for each sense {354}–{359}, and in each the phrase that spells the sense out, gāmānaṁ samūho (“a collection of villages”), and the one word, gāmatā, say the same thing.

The question to ask when a noun you know turns up with -tā, -iya, -āyitattaṁ, -llaṁ or -ālu on the end is what the affix has added: a collection of them, an occasion of it, a likeness to it, a dependence on it, an abundance of it. tā is the one you will meet; the others are rare, and Appendix H tables them all.

How to recognise the five senses

affix	what you see	what it means	example	rule
kaṇ, ṇa	the first vowel lengthened, -ako or -o	a collection of what the word names (samūha, “a collection”)	rājaputtako (“a body of princes”)	{354}
tā	-tā after gāma, jana, bandhu, sahāya and the like	a collection of them	gāmatā (“a group of villages”), janatā (“the people”)	{355}
iya	-iyaṁ after a word for an act	what is an occasion of it (ṭhāna, “occasion”)	madaniyaṁ (“an occasion of intoxication”), dassaniyaṁ (“fit to be seen”)	{356}
āyitatta	-āyitattaṁ	a likeness (upamā, “comparison”): a state that looks like it	dhūmāyitattaṁ (“smokiness, a cloud of smoke”)	{357}
la	-llaṁ, the l doubled	what depends on it (nissita, “dependent on”), or is an occasion of it	duṭṭhullaṁ (“coarse, lewd”), vedallaṁ (“a catechism”)	{358}
ālu	-ālu in place of the final vowel	one in whom it abounds (bahula, “abundant”)	abhijjhālu (“covetous”), dayālu (“compassionate”)	{359}

The ṇ of kaṇ and ṇa is the signal of section 10.1: it is dropped {396} and the first vowel of the word is lengthened {400}, so manussa (“human being”) gives mānussako. The new word’s gender tells you the affix too: a word in tā is feminine and keeps its -ā as its ① ending, the words in iya, āyitatta and la are neuter in Kaccāyana’s examples and end in -aṁ, with the l of la doubled {404}, and a word in ālu describes a person and ends in -u.

Examples

gāmānaṁ samūho → gāmatā

🚹⨂⑥(gāmānaṁ) 🚹⨀①(samūho) → 🚺⨀①🔽(tā)(gāmatā)
of villages / a collection → a group of villages
tā {355}: -tā added to gāma (“village”); the new word is feminine and ends in -ā.

madanassa ṭhānaṁ → madaniyaṁ

🚻⨀⑥(madanassa) 🚻⨀①(ṭhānaṁ) → 🚻⨀①🔽(iya)(madaniyaṁ)
of intoxication / the occasion → an occasion of intoxication
iya {356}: -iya in place of the final a of madana (“intoxication”); Kaccāyana’s own example.

Exercises

Each of the following is a noun with one of this section’s affixes. Say which affix it carries, which word it is made from and what it means. Look the word up in a dictionary and check the sense against the table above.

Hint

You may find the Digital Pali Dictionary useful for looking up words, as well as doing the sandhi and compound word deconstruction.

1. janatā
2. sahāyatā
3. timirāyitattaṁ
4. abhijjhālu
5. sītālu
6. dayālu

Answers

Note: please do the exercises first before checking the answers.

1. janānaṁ samūho → janatā

🚹⨂⑥(janānaṁ) 🚹⨀①(samūho) → 🚺⨀①🔽(tā)(janatā)
of people / a collection → the people, the populace
tā {355}: -tā added to jana (“person”); a word you will meet often.

2. sahāyānaṁ samūho → sahāyatā

🚹⨂⑥(sahāyānaṁ) 🚹⨀①(samūho) → 🚺⨀①🔽(tā)(sahāyatā)
of companions / a collection → companionship
tā {355}: -tā added to sahāya (“companion”): a company of companions; Kaccāyana’s own example.

3. timiraṁ viya dissati aduṁ vanaṁ → timirāyitattaṁ

🚻⨀①(timiraṁ) ⏏️(viya) 🔴⨀🤟▶️(dissati) *️⃣🤟🚻⨀①(aduṁ) 🚻⨀①(vanaṁ) → 🚻⨀①🔽(āyitatta)(timirāyitattaṁ)
darkness / like / appears / that / forest → gloom, a darkness-like state
āyitatta {357}: -āyitattaṁ in place of the final a of timira (“darkness”): what looks like darkness; Kaccāyana’s own example.

4. abhijjhā assa pakati → abhijjhālu

🚺⨀①(abhijjhā) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀⑥(assa) 🚺⨀①(pakati) → 🚹⨀①🔽(ālu)(abhijjhālu)
covetousness / his / nature → covetous
ālu {359}: -ālu in place of the final ā of abhijjhā; the word describes the person.

5. sītaṁ assa pakati → sītālu

🚻⨀①(sītaṁ) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀⑥(assa) 🚺⨀①(pakati) → 🚹⨀①🔽(ālu)(sītālu)
cold / his / nature → sensitive to cold
ālu {359}: -ālu in place of the final a of sīta (“cold”); one in whom cold abounds.

6. dayā assa pakati → dayālu

🚺⨀①(dayā) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀⑥(assa) 🚺⨀①(pakati) → 🚹⨀①🔽(ālu)(dayālu)
compassion / his / nature → kind, compassionate
ālu {359}: -ālu in place of the final ā of dayā (“compassion”); one in whom compassion abounds.