Monday, June 29, 2020

fun pali guide: intro to conjugations and declensions: the farmer having farmed his farm

Not going to get into boring and complicated declension tables yet, but here's a nice example where you can see a close relationship in the root between the noun and the verb version of that noun, from Vism. breath meditation chapter:

♦ yathā pana kassako 
kasiṃ kasitvā 
balībadde muñcitvā gocaramukhe katvā chāyāya nisinno vissameyya,

A typical english translation of those 3 highlighted words, would be something like, 
"The farmer ploughed his field."

But looking at the pali words, you see they seem very similar, as if they have a very close relationship. 
They do! Here's a more literal translation.

213.Suppose a ploughman, 
some-ploughing having-been-ploughed  
sent his oxen free to graze and sat down to rest in the shade, 


Kasati [kṛṣ or kar] to till, to plough
Kassaka [fr. kasati] a husbandman, cultivator, peasant, farmer, ploughman
kasi: ploughed; tilled. (aor. of kasati)
kasitvā: having ploughed. (abs. of kasati)

The point of this lesson is to get you to recognize a general pattern and relationship when you're out in the wild where strange pali words are roaming,  not to break down into exact grammar rules and details yet. There will time for boring stuff later.



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