adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

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saturnstroll
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adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by saturnstroll »

Hello everyone, I have a brief question:
Do adjectives go before or after the noun in Pali?
For instance, should it be "Dhamma Mulika" or "Mulika Dhamma"? (Mulika, meaning "fundamental" or "elementary")
Or, should it be "Dhamma Pantha" or "Pantha Dhamma"? (Pantha, meaning "path" or "road")
Additionally, if used to name a location, does that affect the order? Like the name of a monastery.
Thank you!
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Assaji
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Re: adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by Assaji »

Hello,

In such cases, before.
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Volo
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Re: adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by Volo »

Usually adjective precedes the word it qualifies, if there are several adjectives, only the first precedes, the rest follows. If the adjective follows the noun, then it is for the emphasis, and can be translated as “who is / which is".
Additionally, if used to name a location, does that affect the order? Like the name of a monastery.
Can you give an example?
saturnstroll
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Re: adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by saturnstroll »

Additionally, if used to name a location, does that affect the order? Like the name of a monastery.
Can you give an example?
[/quote]

Here are many examples. They are all Dhamma center names in Sri Lanka:

Dhamma Siri, Dhamma Kuta, Dhamma Ārāma, Dhamma Bhubaneshwar, Dhamma Cetiya Paṭṭhāra, Dhamma Lābha, Dhamma Manohara, Dhamma Mitta Yāna.

In every case, the adjective follows "Dhamma". Perhaps for emphasis, as aforementioned.
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Assaji
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Re: adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by Assaji »

saturnstroll wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:39 pm
Here are many examples. They are all Dhamma center names in Sri Lanka:

Dhamma Siri, Dhamma Kuta, Dhamma Ārāma, Dhamma Bhubaneshwar, Dhamma Cetiya Paṭṭhāra, Dhamma Lābha, Dhamma Manohara, Dhamma Mitta Yāna.

In every case, the adjective follows "Dhamma". Perhaps for emphasis, as aforementioned.
Why do you think these are adjectives?
binocular
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Re: adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by binocular »

Dmytro wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:46 amWhy do you think these are adjectives?
Those terms are attributes / modifiers / qualifiers. A very common type of attributes are adjectives, hence it's easy to conflate the terminology.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
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Volo
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Re: adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by Volo »

saturnstroll wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:39 pm Dhamma Siri, Dhamma Kuta, Dhamma Ārāma, Dhamma Bhubaneshwar, Dhamma Cetiya Paṭṭhāra, Dhamma Lābha, Dhamma Manohara, Dhamma Mitta Yāna.
In every case, the adjective follows "Dhamma". Perhaps for emphasis, as aforementioned.
I think may be "dhamma" is an adjective here. Or alternatively they can be considered as compounds (tappurisa or kammadhāraya), which are separated by space for convenience.
saturnstroll
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Re: adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by saturnstroll »

Dmytro wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:46 am Why do you think these are adjectives?
Yes, following the post, the thought occurred that "Dhamma" here is the descriptive, supportive word.
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Volo
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Re: adjectives go before or after noun in Pali?

Post by Volo »

I think treating them as compounds would be more common Pali. Like dhammadāyāda (sutta) [tappurisa]. So, it should be probably Dhammasiri, Dhammakuta, Dhammārāma, etc. I don't think Dhamma as adjective meaning "doctrinal" is used in the texts.
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