Why is the imperative case in Pāḷi language called ‘pañcamī’ and the optative case called ‘sattamī’?
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maybe its a numerical system? like, “the fifth case” and “the seventh case”?
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These numbers refer to the Pāṇini way of listing. Pali only has 6 of them.
vattamānā = present (1)
bhavissantī = future (4)
pañcamī = imperative (5)
sattami = optative (7)
ajjatanī = aorist (8)
kālātipatti = conditional (9)
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Sādhu! Stephen. What about hiyyatani and parokkhā? Which numbers are they?
Hīyattanī is the imperfect, parokkhā is perfect, neither really used in Pāli. (they might be mentioned in the classic grammar books like Saddanīti.)
They are #6 and #2 according to Pāṇini.
If you have access to Steven Collins’ Pāli Grammar, this sort of thing is covered there.
I do not have S.C’s book.
Sadhu! Is there anything in Pali that is equivalent to 3rd in Panini?
No, I don’t think so.
Sādhu Stephen, I would like to know what is the 3rd in Pānini grammar although it is not in Pāḷi. Thank you.
3rd: Tŗtīyā Instrumental (by)
Please don’t confuse Pāṇini’s numbering of Sanskrit verbal forms with the traditional numbering of Pāli cases.
I was merely answering the question that was asked.
The 3rd verbal category in Pāṇini’s grammar is called śvastanī, not present in Pāli.
(I’m not really sure what this even looks like, someone more knowledgeable in Sanskrit grammar will have to explain that.)
What the Kātantra refers to as śvastanī is known in Pāṇini’s system as luṭ lakāra. Pāṇini (3.3.15) said this future tense should be used to describe what will happen, but not in the course of the current day. An example given in the commentary is śvaḥ kartā ‘he will do tomorrow’.
English language grammars of Sanskrit usually call this a periphrastic future, but the term is a bit misleading.
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Thank you, Leon, for your explanation. Collins translates/explains this tense as ‘the future beyond today’, which seems much more clear than “periphrastic future”.
Is it commonly found in Classical Sanskrit?
I found an example of it on-line:
sa prakoṣṭhe dhyānam kartā
(He will do meditation in the room) [Pāli pakuṭa, ‘inner court’?]
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Sadhu Stephen. It is clear now.
Sādhu Leon for the explanation.
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Hi Stephen,
It’s common enough, although the above stated restriction on its use is not always observed in literature.