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Whenever the above Venerable is mentioned, idiosyncratic German translator Carl Eugene Neumann translates as “Anurrhuder” which is about the same as calling Judy “The Judster” or Randy “The Randster” in English.
I wonder why he did this. Is there anything in the original Pali that makes Anurhudda’s name peculiar?
In his translations of the Majjhima Nikāya and the Theragāthā, Neumann followed what was then a common Continental practice of giving Pali names in their nominative rather than their pre-inflected form. And so Anuruddha becomes Anuruddho.
In which of his works have you come across “Anurrhuder”? Might it perhaps be a badly OCR’d digital text?
It’s right there in his printed MN translation by Beyerlein.
E.g. MN31:
Recht so, recht so, Anuruddher. Eine andere selige Ruhe, höher oder herrlicher als diese, Anuruddher, gibt es nicht.
And the same in all repeated answers. I believe it is also in other Suttas.
Thanks.
In my earlier reply I looked only at the Anuruddhasutta, MN127, in which Neumann uses “Anuruddho” throughout. I now see that in the very next sutta he starts with “Anuruddho” and then switches to “Anuruddher”. I’ve no idea why.
Could make sense if Anurhudda was also the name of a town or clan (like a Sydney born in Sydney).
Neumann seems to have lots of idiosyncracies in his translations, but then he was a fellow at Indian studies at the University of Vienna.
I dont know German, but could it be that he was trying to use a german masculine singular ending for the name (to accord with the nominative masculine singular ending -o of Pali)?
He uses such a form for vocative in Pāli.
For instance, here, he uses “Bhaggaver” for Bhaggava (voc.).
It is a combination of his peculiar style of translation and Old German ways.
And, yes, he uses such forms for “extended family/clan’s names”: for instance, in the case of “Bhaggaver”, he makes this comment in the second volume:
Ghaṭikāros nomen gentile: Der vom Seher Bhagu abstammt. Vergl. Dīghanikāyo No. 24.
Im 408. Jātakam wird gleichfalls ein Hafner mit ‘Bhaggaver’ angesprochen.
That is, it was a famous clan stemming from the legendary Ṛṣi (in Ṛgveda?) Bhagu.
It’s Bhṛgu in Sanskrit (ṛ is normally changed to a/i/u in Pali). The patronymic derived therefrom is Bhārgava (in Vedic/Classical Sanskrit) which is Bhaggava in Pali.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! Now I see what he is doing!
When the Buddha addresses Anuruddha in this sutta he isn’t speaking to Anuruddha alone, but to a group of three monks, and the Pali has the name Anuruddha in a plural form:
“kacci vo, anuruddhā, khamanīyaṁ, kacci yāpanīyaṁ, kacci piṇḍakena na kilamathā”ti?
So the Buddha addresses them all by Anuruddha’s name, but in plural. Bhante Sujato translates
“I hope you’re keeping well, Anuruddha and friends; I hope you’re all right. And I hope you’re having no trouble getting almsfood.”
and I have
„Ich hoffe, es geht euch leidlich, Anuruddha-Gruppe, ich hoffe, ihr kommt zurecht. Und ich hoffe, ihr habt keine Schwierigkeiten, Almosen zu erhalten.“
So “Anuruddher” is supposed to be a plural form of “Anuruddha” (“those of Anuruddha”).
Makes sense!
But in the case of Bhaggava, it is clearly singular.
Very good! Very good !
Yes. The “-er” ending in German can be singular or plural. In this case he is addressed as a member of his clan, it seems. Bhante Sujato has the following comment to MN140:1.3:
The Bhaggava clan was descended from the ancient sage Bhagu (Sanskrit Bhṛgu). They received the gift of fire conveyed by Mātariśvan the wind from the god Agni (eg. Rig Veda 1.60.1). In Pali they appear as potters (MN 81:19.3, SN 1.50:11.2, SN 2.24:12.2), unless they have gone forth (DN 24:1.1.6). Archaeologists refer to the strata around the Buddha’s time as the Northern Black Polished Ware culture on account of the distinctive highly glazed polish that was achieved on the pottery of the time. This, together with the production of iron, marked a significant advance in the mastery of fire. Thus potters were no mere humble craftsmen, but leading technological innovators.