6: Grammar: Compounds (`samāsa`)

Like German, Pāḷi joins nouns into compound words: rājaputto (“the king’s son”) is rañño putto made into one word. Kaccāyana calls the joining a samāsa (“compound”): nouns whose meanings are connected {316}. When the nouns are joined, the vibhatti endings of the members are elided {317}, a member whose lemma ends in a vowel returns to its original form {318}, and the whole compound then takes a vibhatti ending of its own like any other noun.

	rañño + putto (rāja + sa ⑥⨀, putta + si ①⨀)	rule
→	rāja + sa + putta + si	{317}
→	rāja + putta	{318}
→	rājaputta + si (①⨀)
→	rājaputta + si(o)	{104}
→	rājaputto

The compound is marked 🆎 in this book, with its members in their lemma form: 🚹⨀①🆎(rāja+putta).

Kaccāyana names six kinds of compound by the relation between the members {319}–{329}. To tell them apart, ask how the members relate:

flowchart TD
  S["two words made into one"] --> A{"is the first member a prefix or a particle?"}
  A -->|"yes"| AB["abyayībhāva: upanagaraṁ, near the city"]
  A -->|"no"| B{"does it mean X and Y?"}
  B -->|"yes"| DV["dvanda: samaṇabrāhmaṇā, recluses and brahmins"]
  B -->|"no"| C{"does it name a third thing?"}
  C -->|"yes"| BV["bahubbīhi: chinnahattho, one whose hand is cut off"]
  C -->|"no"| D{"do both members name the same thing?"}
  D -->|"yes, the first a numeral"| DG["digu: tilokaṁ, the three worlds"]
  D -->|"yes"| KD["kammadhāraya: mahāpuriso, a great man"]
  D -->|"no: of, to, by, in …"| TP["tappurisa: rājaputto, the king's son"]

Of these the kammadhāraya and the tappurisa are by far the commonest in the texts, with the bahubbīhi and the dvanda next; the digu and the abyayībhāva are rare.¹ Kaccāyana then states the changes that some members undergo at the beginning {330}–{336} and at the end {337}–{343} of a compound. The chapter opens with the three rules that say what a compound is, follows that order with one section for each kind, and ends with the changes at the end of a compound.

section	compound	English name	members	rules
6.1	`samāsa`	what a compound is	nouns whose meanings are connected	{316}–{318}
6.2	`abyayībhāva`	adverbial	a prefix or particle first	{319}–{320}, {341}–{343}
6.3	`kammadhāraya`	appositional	two words with the same referent	{324}, {330}–{336}
6.4	`digu`	numeral	a numeral first	{325}, {321}
6.5	`tappurisa`	determinative	a word in the ② to ⑦ ending with the word that follows	{327}, {326}
6.6	`bahubbīhi`	attributive	the compound names a third thing	{328}
6.7	`dvanda`	copulative	nouns combined with “and”	{329}, {322}–{323}
6.8	the end of a compound	—	—	{337}–{340}

The rules of the Samāsakappa

rule	sutta	meaning
{316}	Nāmānaṁ samāso yuttattho	a `samāsa` is a joining of nouns whose meanings are connected
{317}	Tesaṁ vibhattiyo lopā ca	and the inflections of the members are elided
{318}	Pakati cassa sarantassa	and a member ending in a vowel returns to its original form
{319}	Upasagganipātapubbako abyayībhāvo	an `abyayībhāva` begins with a prefix or a particle
{320}	So napuṁsakaliṅgo	it is neuter
{321}	Digussekattaṁ	a `digu` is singular and neuter
{322}	Tathā dvande pāṇi tūriya yoggasenaṅgakhuddajantuka vividhaviruddha visabhāgatthādīnañca	likewise in a `dvanda` of limbs, instruments, parts of a team or an army, small creatures, opposites and things of different kinds
{323}	Vibhāsā rukkha tiṇa pasu dhana dhañña janapadā dīnañca	optionally for trees, grasses, animals, wealth, grain, countries and the like
{324}	Dvipade tulyādhikaraṇe kammadhārayo	two words with the same referent make a `kammadhāraya`
{325}	Saṅkhyāpubbo digu	a `digu` is a `kammadhāraya` beginning with a numeral
{326}	Ubhe tappurisā	both are `tappurisa`
{327}	Amādayo parapadebhi	a word in `aṁ` or a later inflection with the word that follows: `tappurisa`
{328}	Aññapadatthesu bahubbīhi	nouns compounded in the sense of another word: `bahubbīhi`
{329}	Nāmānaṁ samuccayo dvando	a combination of nouns is a `dvanda`
{330}	Mahataṁ mahā tulyādhikaraṇe pade	`mahā` for `mahanta` before a word with the same referent
{331}	Itthiyaṁ bhāsitapumitthī pumāva ce	a feminine word also spoken as masculine counts as masculine before a feminine word with the same referent
{332}	Kammadhārayasaññe ca	and in a compound named `kammadhāraya`
{333}	Attaṁ nassa tappurise	`a` for `na` in a `tappurisa`
{334}	Sare ana	`ana` before a vowel
{335}	Kada kussa	`kada` for `ku` before a vowel
{336}	Kā’ppatthesu ca	and `kā` in the sense of “little”
{337}	Kvaci samāsantagatānamakāranto	sometimes `a` for the final of a word at the end of a compound
{338}	Nadimhā ca	and `ka` after a `nadī` final (feminine `ī`, `ū`)
{339}	Jāyāya tudaṁ jāni patimhi	`tudaṁ`, `jāni` for `jāyā` before `pati`
{340}	Dhanumhā ca	and `ā` after `dhanu`
{341}	Aṁ vibhattīnamakārantā abyayībhāvā	`aṁ` for the inflections after an `abyayībhāva` in `a`
{342}	Saro rasso napuṁsake	the final vowel is shortened in the neuter
{343}	Aññasmā lopo ca	and elision of the inflections after any other `abyayībhāva`

The Digital Pāḷi Dictionary is the place to look up what a word means, but it is weak at saying how a derived word is made: its construction and compound-type fields often cut a word differently from Kaccāyana, reading rūpasaññā as a ⑥ compound rather than the ⑦ of Kaccāyana’s rule, bhikkhusahassa as a digu though its numeral stands last, and brahmassaro as a tappurisa where Kaccāyana’s rule makes it a bahubbīhi. Where the two differ, this book follows Kaccāyana: the examples are the rules’ own, and the dictionary’s cut is no evidence against them. ↩

6: Grammar: Compounds (`samāsa`)

The rules of the Samāsakappa

Footnotes