A: Symbols and Glossary of Pali technical terms
List of symbols used in this book and their meanings
| symbol | meaning | explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 🚹 | pulliṅga |
major (masculine) gender |
| 🚻 | napuṁsakaliṅga |
special (neuter) gender |
| 🚺 | itthiliṅga |
minor (feminine) gender |
| ⚧ | aliṅga |
without gender: one set of forms for all three genders, as the pronouns amha and tumha and the numeral dvi have |
| ⨀ | ekavacana |
singular |
| ⨂ | bahuvacana |
plural |
| 🟢 | parassapada |
the first set of verb endings: the active voice (kattu) |
| 🔵 | attanopada |
the second set of verb endings, used in the passive and the impersonal (bhāva) and sometimes in the active |
| 🔴 | kamma |
the passive voice, even when it takes the parassapada endings |
| 🟠 | kārita |
causative |
| 🤟 | paṭhama purisa |
first person, equivalent to ‘third person’ in English; on a pronoun, the person it stands for |
| 🤘 | majjhima purisa |
middle person, equivalent to ‘second person’ in English |
| 👆 | uttama purisa |
primary person, equivalent to ‘first person’ in English |
| ⓪ | ālapana |
the calling form: the one spoken to |
| ① | paṭhamā |
the first inflection form |
| ② | dutiyā |
the second inflection form |
| ③ | tatiyā |
the third inflection form |
| ④ | catutthī |
the fourth inflection form |
| ⑤ | pañcamī |
the fifth inflection form |
| ⑥ | chaṭṭhī |
the sixth inflection form |
| ⑦ | sattamī |
the seventh inflection form |
| ⏏️ | nipāta |
particle |
| 🔼 | upasagga |
prefix |
| 🆎 | samāsa |
compound noun |
| 🔽 | taddhita, kita, uṇādi |
a derived word, with its affix in parentheses: 🔽(ta)(desita) |
| *️⃣ | sabbanāma |
pronoun |
| ▶️ | vattamānā |
the present |
| ⏹ | pañcamī |
a command or a wish |
| ⏯ | sattamī |
permission or supposition: may, should, would |
| 🔄 | parokkhā |
the unwitnessed past |
| ↩️ | hiyyattanī |
the past before today |
| ⏮ | ajjatanī |
the near past |
| ⏭ | bhavissantī |
the future |
| 🔀 | kālātipatti |
the conditional: what would have happened |
Phonological Terminology
Section titled “Phonological Terminology”dīgha : long
rassa : short
garuka : metrically long
lahuka : metrically short
sambaddha : connected utterance
vavatthita : disjoint utterance
sithila : non-aspirated stops
dhanita : aspirated stops
niggahīta : nasal
vimutta : oral
The inflection forms in other books
Section titled “The inflection forms in other books”The commentaries have names of their own for the inflection forms; the Latin names that English grammars use are given in chapter 1:
| Symbol | in the commentaries |
|---|---|
| ① | paccatta |
| ② | upayoga |
| ③ | karaṇa |
| ④ | sampadāna |
| ⑤ | nissakka |
| ⑥ | sāmī |
| ⑦ | bhumma |
| ⓪ | ālapana |
Types of nominals
Section titled “Types of nominals”| type | Pāḷi | explanation |
|---|---|---|
| substantive | nāmanāma |
a noun naming a thing, a being or a place: purisa (“man”), citta (“mind”) |
| common noun | sādhāraṇanāma |
a name shared by a whole kind: rukkha (“tree”) |
| proper noun | asādhāraṇanāma |
the name of one individual: sāriputta |
| adjective | guṇanāma, visesana |
a quality-word that takes the gender, number and inflection form of its noun: nīla (“blue”) |
| pronoun | sabbanāma |
the twenty-seven words of Appendix L, which stand for any noun: sabba, ya, ta, kiṁ, tumha, amha |
| numeral | saṅkhyānāma |
a counting word (eka, dvi, ti …) or an ordinal (paṭhama, dutiya …) |
| compound | samāsanāma |
two or more words made into one {316}–{343}: rājaputta (“king’s son”) |
| secondary derivative | taddhitanāma |
a noun made from another noun by a taddhita affix, Appendix H: vāsiṭṭha (“Vasiṭṭha’s son”) |
| primary derivative | kitanāma |
a noun made from a root by a kita or uṇādi affix, Appendices J and K: kārako (“doer”), kāru (“craftsman”) |
References
Section titled “References”- Technical Terms and Technique of the Pali and the Sanskrit Grammars, Mahesh A Deokar, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (2008)