2023-03-29 18:11:07 by ambuda-bot
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303
GLOSSARY
the respectable [whose faces are beautiful], leader of good govern-
ment [of beautiful eyes], praiseworthy [are to be seized]"). (4) "Ben
Battle was a soldier bold, / And used to war's alarms; / But a cannon-
ball took off his legs, / So he laid down his arms" (Thomas Hood;
we might claim here an equivocation between dual and plural. At
least it is a numerical idea which is punned upon). (5) Strictly speak-
ing, no illustration is possible from English since any pun involving
plural-singular contrast (e.g., "rose", "rows") would also involve a
different etymon. Here the point is that the same word lends itself
to two numerically different references. Perhaps a pun could be
found involving the word "sheep" (sing.) and "sheep" (pl.).
varņa, 'syllable, letter': (1) a type of paronomasia in which the locus of the
double-entendre is restricted to a single phoneme. (2) R 4.3, M 119C.
(3) alaňkāraḥ śañkākaranarakapālam parijano viśīrṇâñgo bhṛīgi vasu
ca vrşa eko bahuvayāḥ । avasthêyam sthāṇor api bhavati sarvâmara-
guror vidhau vakre mūrdhni sthitavati vayam ke punar ami (Mammata;
the pun is restricted to the syllable -au of vidhau, which happens to
be the locative singular of both vidhi ("fate") and vidhu ('moon"): "His
only ornament is a human skull which inspires fright; his attendant
is Bhrigi, the one who has consumed his own limbs; his wealth is
one old bull. Such is the condition of Siva, Lord of all the Gods!
Since inscrutable fate [the curved moon] sits on his brow, what
indeed do we mere mortals amount to?"). (4) "Oh, the moon
shines bright on my old Kentucky home" (Anon.; or: moonshine's).
(5) This category shows a delicacy of interpretation which is truly
astounding: at first glance, this seems to be an instance of pratyaya
śleşa, where the affix is quite accidentally a single letter. But this
analysis does not stand examination, because in the case of vidhau,
the pratyaya is not punned at all, since it is locative singular in both
cases (we say that the locative singular of both -i and -u stems is -au).
Neither can the pun be attributed to the roots, for they are not the
same (one is -i stem, the other -u stem). It might appear then that we
have a case of vibhakti śleșa, where two inflections have the same
form. But this interpretation, too, is invalid, for it cannot be said
that the locative singular of two form classes is two inflections.
We are left then with the recondite category pun on nominal form
class, which in this unique instance involves only one syllable: hence
the classification. Our English example is of course fictitious, since
it is, strictly speaking, a case of vibhakti śleșa (the "-s" being both
present singular of verbs and contraction of the nominal verb),
GLOSSARY
the respectable [whose faces are beautiful], leader of good govern-
ment [of beautiful eyes], praiseworthy [are to be seized]"). (4) "Ben
Battle was a soldier bold, / And used to war's alarms; / But a cannon-
ball took off his legs, / So he laid down his arms" (Thomas Hood;
we might claim here an equivocation between dual and plural. At
least it is a numerical idea which is punned upon). (5) Strictly speak-
ing, no illustration is possible from English since any pun involving
plural-singular contrast (e.g., "rose", "rows") would also involve a
different etymon. Here the point is that the same word lends itself
to two numerically different references. Perhaps a pun could be
found involving the word "sheep" (sing.) and "sheep" (pl.).
varņa, 'syllable, letter': (1) a type of paronomasia in which the locus of the
double-entendre is restricted to a single phoneme. (2) R 4.3, M 119C.
(3) alaňkāraḥ śañkākaranarakapālam parijano viśīrṇâñgo bhṛīgi vasu
ca vrşa eko bahuvayāḥ । avasthêyam sthāṇor api bhavati sarvâmara-
guror vidhau vakre mūrdhni sthitavati vayam ke punar ami (Mammata;
the pun is restricted to the syllable -au of vidhau, which happens to
be the locative singular of both vidhi ("fate") and vidhu ('moon"): "His
only ornament is a human skull which inspires fright; his attendant
is Bhrigi, the one who has consumed his own limbs; his wealth is
one old bull. Such is the condition of Siva, Lord of all the Gods!
Since inscrutable fate [the curved moon] sits on his brow, what
indeed do we mere mortals amount to?"). (4) "Oh, the moon
shines bright on my old Kentucky home" (Anon.; or: moonshine's).
(5) This category shows a delicacy of interpretation which is truly
astounding: at first glance, this seems to be an instance of pratyaya
śleşa, where the affix is quite accidentally a single letter. But this
analysis does not stand examination, because in the case of vidhau,
the pratyaya is not punned at all, since it is locative singular in both
cases (we say that the locative singular of both -i and -u stems is -au).
Neither can the pun be attributed to the roots, for they are not the
same (one is -i stem, the other -u stem). It might appear then that we
have a case of vibhakti śleșa, where two inflections have the same
form. But this interpretation, too, is invalid, for it cannot be said
that the locative singular of two form classes is two inflections.
We are left then with the recondite category pun on nominal form
class, which in this unique instance involves only one syllable: hence
the classification. Our English example is of course fictitious, since
it is, strictly speaking, a case of vibhakti śleșa (the "-s" being both
present singular of verbs and contraction of the nominal verb),