4.7: sāmī (Genitive)

Info

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

Where English says “of” or adds “’s”, Pāḷi puts the ⑥ ending on the owner and leaves the thing owned in the ending its own part in the sentence gives it. Kaccāyana calls the one who has a thing as a possession (pariggaha) the sāmī (owner) {283}, and the ⑥ is the owner’s ending {301}: in tassa bhikkhuno patto (“that monk’s bowl”) the ⑥ sits on tassa bhikkhuno (“of that monk”), while patto (the bowl) keeps its ① ending.

The ⑥ is on nearly every page and mostly means no more than “of”: the bank of the river, the origin of suffering, the teaching of the Buddhas. The rule’s vā (“or”) lets the Padarūpasiddhi take sāmī beyond owning to every relation English renders with “of”: a part and its whole, a group and its members. Ask of a ⑥ word “whose, or of what?” and, when no “of” makes sense, which other use in the table it is; every rule number links to the full rule in the Kaccāyana translation.

The uses of the ⑥ ending

what the noun is doing	what you see	example	rule
the owner (sāmī): the one a thing belongs to	a ⑥ word beside the thing owned: “of”, “’s”	tassa bhikkhuno patto (that monk’s bowl)	{283}, {301}
what one is owner, lord, chief, heir, witness or surety of, intent on or skilled in	a ⑥ word, or a ⑦, beside sāmī, issara, adhipati, dāyāda, sakkhī, patibhū, pasuta, kusala	goṇānaṁ sāmī, goṇesu sāmī (the owner of the cattle)	{303}
the whole a part is singled out from (niddhāraṇa): “of them”, “among them”	a ⑥ plural, or a ⑦, beside a -tama word (the most …)	kaṇhā gāvīnaṁ sampannakhīratamā (of the cows, the black one is richest in milk)	{304}
the ⑥ absolute: a person whose doing is disregarded (anādara), “though”, “while”	a noun and its -nta word (weeping …) both in the ⑥, or the ⑦, outside the main sentence	rudato dārakassa pabbaji (though the boy wept, he went forth)	{305}
standing in for the ③, “by”	me, te with a -ta word such as kato (done), where mayā, tayā is expected	kato me kalyāṇo (good has been done by me)	{308}
standing in for the ⑦, “in”	a ⑥ word with kusala (skilled) and the like	kusalā naccagītassa (skilled in dance and song)	{308}
standing in for the ②, the object	a ⑥ word with a doer word in -tu: vattu (speaker), kattu (doer)	tassa bhavanti vattāro (there are those who speak of him)	{309}
standing in for the ⑤, “from”, the thing feared	a ⑥ word with a word of fearing or of falling away	sabbe bhāyanti maccuno (all fear death)	{309}

The kvaci (“in some places”) of {308}–{309} means the ⑥ does not always stand in: mayā keeps its ③ and atthesu its ⑦ in the rule’s own counter-examples.

What the ⑥ ending looks like

The ⑥ endings are sa ⨀ and naṁ ⨂ {55}; these are their shapes on the words a beginner meets most (Appendix G tables every ending rule).

what you see	on which words	examples	rule
-ssa	🚹 🚻 lemmas in a, and those in i, u too	purisassa, cittassa, aggissa, bhikkhussa	{61}
-no	🚹 lemmas in i, u, beside -ssa	aggino, bhikkhuno	{117}
-āya	🚺 lemmas in ā	kaññāya, nerañjarāya	{111}
-iyā, -uyā	🚺 lemmas in i, ī, u	rattiyā, itthiyā, dhenuyā	{112}
-ānaṁ, -īnaṁ, -ūnaṁ: the plural, last vowel lengthened	every lemma	purisānaṁ, aggīnaṁ, bhikkhūnaṁ	{89}
-ssa, and assa for tassa; -esaṁ in the plural	the pronouns ta, eta, ima, ya, sabba	tassa, assa, etassa, imassa, yassa, tesaṁ, imesaṁ	{176}–{177}, {168}
mama, mayhaṁ, me, amhākaṁ, no; tava, tuyhaṁ, te, tumhākaṁ, vo	“I”, “we”, “you”; me, te, no, vo serve as ④ as well	etaṁ mama (this is mine, 7: 6.5)	{141}–{142}, {147}–{148}, {161}

Examples

tassa bhikkhuno paṭivīso

🚹⨀⑥(*️⃣🤟(tassa) bhikkhuno) 🚹⨀①(paṭivīso)
of that / monk / the share
The share of that monk: the owner takes the ⑥, the thing owned keeps its own ending {283}, {301}.

kaṇhā gāvīnaṁ sampannakhīratamā

🚺⨀①(kaṇhā) 🚺⨂⑥(gāvīnaṁ) 🚺⨀①🆎🔽(tama)(sampannakhīratamā)
the black one / of the cows / richest in milk
Of the cows, the black one is richest in milk: the group takes the ⑥, or the ⑦ (gāvīsu) {304}.

rudato dārakassa pabbaji

🚹⨀⑥(🔽(anta)(rudato) dārakassa) 🟢⨀🤟⏮(pabbaji)
weeping / of the boy / [he] went forth
Though the boy wept, he went forth: the boy and his weeping stand apart in the ⑥ {305}.

Exercises

Translate the following from Pali to English and find the ⑥ word in each. Look up the words in a dictionary, do any sandhi and compound deconstruction needed, and take note of the vibhatti endings to deduce the meaning. All four are from the texts, each linked to its sentence.

Hint

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

1. Evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa samudayo hoti (3: 3.12)
2. Bhummānaṁ devānaṁ saddaṁ sutvā (5: 12.2)
3. Ayaṁ dukkhassa atthaṅgamo (Bonus: 19, 2.10)
4. Attamanā te bhikkhū bhagavato bhāsitaṁ abhinanduṁ. (9: 10.2)

Answers

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

1. Evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa samudayo hoti

⏏️(evaṁ) *️⃣🤟🚹⨀⑥(eta) 🚹⨀⑥(kevala) 🚹⨀⑥🆎(dukkha+khandha) 🚹⨀①(samudaya) 🟢⨀🤟▶️(hoti)
thus / of this / of the entire / of the mass of suffering / origin / is
Thus is the origin of this whole mass of dukkha (suffering).

etassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa: three ⑥ words agreeing, “of this whole mass of suffering” {301}; evametassa is evaṁ etassa.

2. Bhummānaṁ devānaṁ saddaṁ sutvā

🚹⨂⑥(bhumma) 🚹⨂⑥(deva) 🚹⨀②(sadda) 🔽(tvā)(suṇāti)
of the earth-dwelling / devas / the cry / having heard
Hearing the cry of the earth-dwelling devas, …

bhummānaṁ devānaṁ: the owners of the cry, ⑥ plural in -ānaṁ {301}; saddaṁ, the thing owned, is ② as the object of sutvā.

3. Ayaṁ dukkhassa atthaṅgamo

🚹⨀①(ima) 🚹⨀⑥(dukkha) 🚹⨀①(atthaṅgama)
this / suffering / disappearance of
This is disappearance of dukkha (suffering).

dukkhassa: “of suffering”, ⑥ in -ssa {301}; atthaṅgamo, the disappearance, keeps its ①.

4. Attamanā te bhikkhū bhagavato bhāsitaṁ abhinanduṁ.

🚹⨂①🆎(atta+mana) *️⃣🤟🚹⨂①(ta) 🚹⨂①(bhikkhu) 🚹⨀⑥(bhagavant) 🚻⨀②🔽(ta)(bhāsita) 🟢⨂🤟⏮(abhinandati)
delighted / those / bhikkhū / of the Bhagavā / what was spoken / rejoiced in
Those bhikkhū, delighted, rejoiced in the Bhagavā’s words.

bhagavato: the owner of the words, ⑥ {301}, the -ato of bhagavant (section 2.3); bhāsitaṁ, the thing owned, keeps its own ending, ② as the object.