privative a with finite verb

[Dominic Goodall]

S.A. Srinivasan appears inclined to assume that Vaacaspatimi"sra, in  
his Saa"nkhyatattvakaumudii, may have used the negative "a" without  
intending to express reproach.
He begins his discussion of the privative with this observation  
(P1.4.5.16, p.40):

"Das a-privativum ist sandhigefaehrdet und geht manchmal verloren.  
Die Ueberlieferer tilgen es daher manchmal, oder sie aendern die  
Wortstellung, um es vor Verlust zu schuetzen."

The discussion of its use with finite verbs is on p.42.

Srinivasa Ayya Srinivasan,
Vaacaspatimi"sras Tattvakaumudii Ein Beitrag zur Textkritik bei  
kontaminierter Ueberlieferung
(Alt- und Neu-Indische Studien 12), Hamburg 1967.


Dominic Goodall
Pondicherry Centre,
Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient ("French School of Asian Studies")



On 26 Sep 2007, at 01:50, Herman Tull wrote:

> Speijer's Syntax sect. 404, cites a vaart. On P. 6, 3, 73 that  
> allows "a" on
> the finite verb, if it expresses blame, as apacasi tvam jaalma "you
> miscook"; Vasu's translation of this is "The na of nan is elided  
> before a
> verb also when reproach is meant" (and cites the example already  
> quoted in
> Speijer).
>
> Herman Tull
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of L.S.  
> Cousins
> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 3:16 PM
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: privative a with finite verb
>
> Jonathan,
>
> In fact, Whitney §1121b gives two examples:
> asp.rhayanti (BhP. & "Si"s) and alokayati (SD).
> But I cannot check them immediately.
>
> Lance
>
>> Friends,
>>
>> I have the impression that I have seen, in Buddhist texts at least,
>> privative a affixed to finite verbs (but my memory gets worse and  
>> worse,
> and
>> maybe I'm imagining this...). Now I have a passage which may need
>> emendation, or perhaps not, if it can be demonstrated that such forms
> exist,
>> whether Paninian or not. (This may even be discussed in  
>> Wackernagel, for
>> instance, but I'm not sure I  would even know how to look for  
>> it...). Any
>> advice will be much appreciated!
>>
>> JAS