Paṭisambhidā as Tools for Textual Analysis

And the rabbit hole gets deeper!

Quick admission: I can never get enough of language studies; it just sucks me in. And, to be in a situation like this: doing linguistic analysis of terminology about how to do linguistic analysis!.. So, I just want to say thanks to everyone for their contributions.

Because I’ve never trained in it, translators–especially really good ones–almost mystify me; you’re like magicians when it comes to finding the right word. “Freeing something”! 妙!

That would be my guess, too. There may have been two (or more?) lines of transmission: one based on vid, and one on bhid. (Perhaps even just in their understanding of the term as a whole, irrespective of what the text actually read!) Again, I don’t have the Indic language background, but, if I’m understanding it correctly, @Suvira 's very comprehensive, very plausible historical reconstruction of the possible evolution seems to show great lexical as well as semantic confusion/conflation even at an early date.

Yes, it was to me, too: which is why I asked you. Thank you, though. We may not have solved the mystery, but the additional information you cited was informative nonetheless

Again, “twists and turns.” Is it finally just impossible to tell from the texts if there was ever a time and place in history where the two meanings were even clearly distinguishable, let alone which one was primary and which secondary?

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