No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The classification of nouns (nāma) in Buddhaghosa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 April 2022
Abstract
This paper provides the first detailed analysis of the models for classing nouns found in the early Pali exegetical texts traditionally assigned to the fifth-century monk-scholar Buddhaghosa. It identifies three fourfold models and argues that: (a) each model has a distinctive distribution; (b) the original occurrence in each model serves a specific purpose, which can be identified through studying the relation between these original occurrences and their respective context; (c) Buddhaghosa did not invent these models but repurposed pre-existing models to fit specific exegetical needs; (d) Buddhaghosa's reuse of these inherited models is consistent with his view expressed elsewhere that Pali is a sacred, perfect language; and (e) in developing these models, the unknown authors combined influences from the Pali canon and Sanskrit grammatical sources. Finally, I briefly consider whether studying the models sheds new light on the early history of Pali grammar.
Keywords
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 73 - 97
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London
Footnotes
I would like to thank Maria Piera Candotti and Charles Li for supplying references and texts, and the two reviewers for their perceptive comments. A special thanks to Professor George Cardona for sharing many insights and providing me with a masterful outline of how nouns are classed in the Sanskritic tradition. The revision of this paper was sponsored by the National Social Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 20&ZD304.