Gāthā Sentence Translation Sentence Structure
Vocabulary&Grammar Commentary Pronunciation
                          List of Abbreviations

nikkhaṃ jambonadasseva ko taṃ ninditum arahati

devā pi naṃ pasaṃsanti brahmunā pi pasaṃsito

(DhP 230)




Sentence Translation:

[continued from DhP 229]
Who is worthy enough to blame him, like a ring made of gold?
Even gods praise him; he is praised also by Brahma.




Sentence Structure:
List of Abbreviations

nikkhaṃ jambonadassa iva    ko         taṃ   ninditum arahati
|                      |             |        |            |            |           |
N.m.            N.m.      part. Pron.m. Pron.m. V.inf.  V.act.in.
Acc.Sg.      Gen.Sg.       |    Nom.Sg. Acc.Sg.     |     3.Sg.pres.
|____________|             |         |            |            |______|
          |______________|         |            |                  |
                       |____________|_______|                  |
                                  |           |_________________|
                                  |_______________|

List of Abbreviations

devā       pi      naṃ   pasaṃsanti brahmunā pi  pasaṃsito
|               |         |             |                |         |          |
N.m.     conj. Pron.m. V.act.in.      N.m.   conj.  Adj.m.
Nom.Pl.   |     Acc.Sg. 3.Pl.pres.    Ins.Sg.    |     Nom.Sg.
|________|          |_______|                |_____|          |
       |______________|                           |________|




Vocabulary and Grammar:
List of Abbreviations

nikkhaṃ: nikkha-, N.m.: ornament, ring. Acc.Sg. = nikkhaṃ.

jambonadassa: jambonada-, N.m.: name of a special sort of gold. Gen.Sg. = jambonadassa.

iva, part.: like, as (another, more often used form of this word is va).
Euphonic combination: jambonadassa + iva = jambonadasseva.

ko: kiṃ-, Inter.Pron.: who. Nom.Sg.m. = ko.

taṃ: tad-, Pron.: that. Nom.Sg.m. = taṃ.

ninditum, V.inf.: to blame. The verb root is nind-.

arahati, V.: is worthy of, deserves. The verb root is arah- (to deserve). 3.Sg.pres.act.in. = arahati.

List of Abbreviations

devā: deva-, N.m.: god, celestial being. Nom.Pl. = devā.

pi, conj.: also.

naṃ: ena-, pron. In Pali used only in Acc.Sg.m.: naṃ (him).

pasaṃsanti, V.: to praise, to commend. The verb root is saṃs- (to proclaim, to point out) with the strenghtening prefix pa-. 3.Pl.act.in.pres. = pasaṃsanti.

brahmunā: brahman-, N.m.: the god Brahma. Ins.Sg. = brahmunā.

pi: see above.

pasaṃsito: pasaṃsita-, Adj.: praised. It is a p.p. of the verb root saṃs- (to proclaim, to point out) with the strengthening prefix pa-. Nom.Sg.m. = pasaṃsito.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) nikkhaṃ jambonadasseva ko taṃ ninditum arahati (who is worthy enough to blame him, like a ring made of gold?). This can be further analysed into the clause a) and the main sentence b):
    a) nikkhaṃ jambonadasseva (like a ring made of gold). The noun nikkhaṃ (ring, accusative singular) is the object. It has an attribute, the noun jambonadassa (of gold, genitive singular). The particle iva (like, as) connects the clause to the object of the main sentence, the pronoun taṃ.
    b) ko taṃ ninditum arahati (who is worthy enough to blame him?). The subject is the interrogative pronoun ko (who, nominative singular). The verb is arahati (is worthy, 3rd person, singular, active, indicative, present tense). It has an attribute, the infinitive ninditum (to blame). The object is the pronoun taṃ (him, accusative singular).
    2) devā pi naṃ pasaṃsanti (even gods praise him). The subject is the noun devā (gods, nominative plural). It is modified by the conjunction pi (also, even). The verb is pasaṃsanti (praise, 3rd person, plural, active, indicative, present tense). The object is the pronoun naṃ (him, accusative singular).
    3) brahmunā pi pasaṃsito (he is praised also by Brahma). The subject is omitted, the pronoun "he" is implied. The verb is also omitted, implying the verb "to be". The object is the past participle pasaṃsito (praised, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the noun brahmunā (by Brahma, instrumental singular). It is modified by the conjunction pi (even, also).




Commentary:

    The story for this verse is identical with the one for the previous verses (DhP 227, DhP 228 and DhP 229).




Sentence pronunciation:

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

nikkhaṃ
jambonadassa
iva
ko
taṃ
ninditum
arahati
devā
pi
naṃ
pasaṃsanti
brahmunā
pasaṃsito