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February 15, 2020; revised on July 23, 2020 added #12 (pronunciation guide); August 25, 2022
Introduction
1. In the previous post, we discussed the reasons for adopting a “Tipiṭaka English” convention to write Pāli words by European scholars in the 1800s. It is necessary to read that post first: “‘Tipiṭaka English’ Convention Adopted by Early European Scholars – Part 1.”
▪As we discussed, those early European scholars realized the importance of the need to preserve the “Pāli sounds” as much as possible. Of course, the other requirement was to keep the corresponding English version short.
▪In that post, we discussed the adoption of “t,” “d,” and “c” to represent the “ත,” “ද,” and the “ච” sounds in Pāli.
▪Here we will continue that discussion. The “ṭ” (with a “dot” underneath the “t”) represents the “ට” sound in Pāli.
▪Then there are aspirated sounds “th”, “dh”, “ch”, and “ṭh” respectively for the “t,” “d,” “c,” and “ṭ” sounds. Some of those “aspirated words” represent “emphasized versions” of the “unaspirated words.” I will explain it below.
We Need to Be Familiar With the “Tipiṭaka English” Convention
2. As I mentioned in the previous post, the above convention went into effect before 1900. Thus all Pāli documents compiled by the Pāli Text Society are consistent with this convention.
▪The Pāli texts (with the English alphabet) available on the Sutta Central website are directly from the Pāli Text Society. Those texts are accurate. For example, here is the “WebLink: suttacentral: Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11)” that was the first discourse delivered by the Buddha.
▪It is an excellent idea to examine that sutta (and try pronunciations of those Pāli words) with the guidelines provided in my two posts on the “Tipiṭaka English” Convention.
▪Many of my posts at the puredhamma.net website are not entirely consistent with the “Tipiṭaka English” Convention, but I will try to make them compatible gradually. I have been trying to “upgrade” several weekly posts in recent months.
▪Of course, as I have repeatedly pointed out, many English translations of Pāli words at the Sutta Central site are not correct. Examples include anicca, anatta, Ānāpāna Bhāvanā, and viññāṇa. See, for example, “Misinterpretation of Anicca and Anatta by Early European Scholars.”
▪Now let us continue introducing the “Tipiṭaka English” convention.
Only “ṭ” Represents the “ට” Sound
2. The “ට” sound in Pāli is the “ta” sound in English, as in “Tom.” The “ට” sound in Pāli is ALWAYS represented by “ṭ.” Note the “dot” underneath the “t.”
▪Some examples are Paṭicca, paṭigha, paṭiloma, paṭisandhi, paṭipadā.
▪In the previous post, we saw that the “ත” sound is ALWAYS represented by “t” (without the “dot” underneath the t.)
▪The word Tipiṭaka is an excellent example of both sounds, the “t” and the “ṭ.” I hope you can catch the difference in the audio in #4 below.
Aspirated Versions
3. Now, let us consider the “aspirated versions” of those four sounds we have discussed. We must remember that we are dealing with “Tipiṭaka English” and NOT “Standard English.”
▪The aspirated version accompanies a forceful expulsion of air. If you hold a thin piece of paper in front of the mouth, it should move when you make an “aspirated sound.”
▪The following video explains that for English words. But it is the same idea.
WebLink: youtube: Aspirated sounds
Putting Emphasis on “ට” Sound to Make the “ඨ” Sound
4. The “ṭ” (“ට”) sound, when aspirated with “ṭh,” becomes the “ඨ” sound. It is not that common to have the “ṭh” by itself. An example is ṭhapetvā, meaning “placement.”
▪In most cases, the “ṭ” sound is in a word just before the “ṭh” sound as in aṭṭha (අට්ඨ for number 8.)
▪Here are more examples of the “ṭ” (“ට”) AND “ṭh” (“ඨ”) sounds coming together: diṭṭhi (දිට්ඨි for view), sandiṭṭhika (සන්දිට්ඨික for “seeing ‘saŋ’”), aṭṭha as in aṭṭha purisapuggalā and aṭṭhaṅgika, kammaṭṭhāna, satipaṭṭhāna.
▪In #2, we mentioned some example words with the “ṭ” sound: Paṭicca, paṭigha, paṭiloma, paṭisandhi, paṭipadā.
▪Compare all those with the following words with just the “t” (“ත”) sound: atta (අත්ත for the truth), satta (සත්ත for living being; note that Bodhisatta is a living being who is striving to attain the Buddhahood.)
▪Here is the pronunciation of the unaspirated paṭicca, paṭigha, paṭiloma, paṭisandhi, paṭipadā AND aspirated ṭhapetvā. Both aspirated and unaspirated in aṭṭha, diṭṭhi, sandiṭṭhika, aṭṭhaṅgika, kammaṭṭhāna, and satipaṭṭhāna. Also, Tipiṭaka.
WebLink: mp3 file: Pali words Tipiṭaka English Post 2-1
Putting Emphasis on “ත” Sound to Make “ථ” Sound
5. The sound “th” is the “aspirated version” of “t” as in Samatha (සමථ in Sinhala) in Samatha Bhāvanā. The word ratha (රථfor “vehicle”) is another.
▪Here are more words with both the “t” and the “th” sounds: tathāgata (තථාගත), natthi, atthi, yathābhūta, hadaya vatthu.
6. There are a few words with both aspirated and unaspirated versions. For example, when the “atta” (අත්ත) refers to the meaning “truth,” it is (the “true-ness”) emphasized with the word “attha” (අත්ථ).
▪There are a few words like that where the meaning is emphasized with the aspirated version. We will discuss that with examples from the Tipiṭaka later on. Two more such words addressed in #8 below.
▪Many other words do not have such an “emphasized” and “non-emphasized” versions. Here are some examples with ONLY the “th” sound: vithi, Itthi, Samatha, Thero, For example, there are no words as viti, Itti, Samata, or Tero.
▪Here is the pronunciation of Samatha, ratha, tathāgata, natthi, atthi, yathābhūta, hadaya vatthu, vīthi, Itthi, Samatha, Thero.
WebLink: mp3 file: Pali words Tipiṭaka English Post 2-2
Putting Emphasis on “ද” Sound to Make the “ධ” Sound
7. The sound “dh” is the “aspirated version” of “d” as in Dhamma (ධම්ම). More examples of words with the “dh” sound: Dhamma, adhamma, dhātu, gandha, gandhabba, middha, nirodha, saddhā, andha, sandhi, sādhu, paṭisandhi, samādhi.
▪Both the unaspirated and the aspirated sounds are in words, Dhammapada (ධම්මපද in Sinhala) and Buddha (බුද්ධ), i.e., both the dh and d sounds appear. More examples: passaddhi, iddhi, middha.
▪Here is the pronunciation of Dhamma, adhamma, dhātu, gandha, gandhabba, middha, nirodha, saddhā, andha, sandhi, sādhu, paṭisandhi, samādhi, Dhammapada, Buddha, passaddhi, iddhi, middha.
WebLink: mp3 file: Pali words Tipiṭaka English Post 2-3
Putting Emphasis on “ච” Sound to Make the “ඡ” Sound
8. The sound “ch” (“ඡ”) is the “aspirated version” of “c” (“ච”) as in chanda (ඡන්ද) meaning “desire.” The unaspirated is in calana (චලන), meaning “movement.”
▪Most Pāli words with the “ch” sound also have the “c” sound coming first. Some examples are, iccha, vicikicchā, appiccha (appa iccha), macchariya, micchā, micchācāra, micchāvācā, pariccheda, gacchati, uccheda.
▪Two more critical Pāli words have the aspirated version emphasizing the meaning of the unaspirated version, just like in the case of atta/attha discussed above in #6.
▪Those two are icca/iccha (ඉච්ච/ඉච්ඡ) and anicca/aniccha (අනිච්ච/අනිච්ඡ). The two aspirated words emphasize the meanings of unaspirated words. We will discuss that in the next post.
▪Here is the pronunciation of chanda, calana, iccha, vicikicchā, appiccha, macchariya, micchā, micchācāra, micchāvācā, pariccheda, gacchati, uccheda, icca, iccha, anicca, aniccha.
WebLink: mp3 file: Pali words Tipiṭaka English Post 2-4
Connection to Key Concepts in Buddha Dhamma
9. Over the past year, I have realized that many misconceptions could be easily avoided by looking at a few Pāli words and their inherent meanings.
▪For example, the Pāli word atta has two different meanings. Furthermore, the word attha emphasizes just one of those two meanings.
▪Similarly, the meanings of the words icca and anicca become emphasized in iccha and aniccha.
▪See “Icca, Nicca, Anicca – Important Connections.”
Many of Posts at Puredhamma.net May Not be Up To the “Tipiṭaka English” Convention
10. I gradually became aware of this issue over the past several months. During that time, I have progressively followed the above rules. I will try to stick to this convention in future posts and gradually revise old posts to be compatible. That will take some time.
▪All Pāli literature on the Sutta Central website is compatible with the “Tipiṭaka English” convention.
▪Once you select a sutta, you can access translations to several languages using the “hamburger icon” on the top left.
▪Of course, all translations there have errors, especially with keywords like anicca, anatta, Ānāpāna Bhāvanā, and viññāṇa.
Singular to Plural in Pāli
11. The following issue is somewhat unrelated, and many people could be aware of it. But I would mention it here since it is essential to know.
▪Many Pāli nouns ending in “short a (/ə/)” converted to plural by replacing that “short a” with a “long a” or ā.
▪For example, Deva, Brahma, sutta, citta, apāya, gandhabba, jhāna are singular and the corresponding plural are Devā, Brahmā, suttā, cittā, apāyā, gandhabbā, jhānā.
▪Finally, Pāli Glossary pages with pronunciation are available at “Tables and Summaries.”
Pāli Alphabet with Illustrations & subtitles
12. The following video could be very useful in learning the Pāli alphabet (in English.) Moreover, it provides excellent instructions on pronunciation.