Dictionary of Prakrit for Jain Literature Vol 01 Fasc 01

Author(s): A M Ghatage
Publisher: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

Page 33

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of the target language and that of the language of explanation may not be the same, and in fact is usually different. Secondly. only such distinctions in the meaning can be made which are caused by the influence of the linguistic environment only.
In this dictionary the different meanings of a word are indicated by the use of numbers in serial order and no complicated system is used to show close and distant relationships of the meanings. When one meaning directly leads to another, this is indicated by the use of the word hence. In the case of technical terms of different branches of knowledge, great care is taken to explain them fully. but no attempt is made to coin new words for this purpose.
In this part of the entry syntactic usage is given full
representation and the linguistic environment is stated in the form of classifications based on common sense, with no pretence of making them scient fically or philosophically very accurate. The lebelling of meanings as literal, metonymical or figurative, which is generally followed in the dictionaries of the classical languages of Europe, is not followed here. But all the necessary evidence in the form of quotations is given in ample measure, and the reader is free to draw his own conclusions based on them. So also the classification of meanings as expressive, indicative and suggestive which is done by the writers of rhetorics in Sanskrit is not explicitly stated Stylistic differences and usage labels are mostly confined to the passages taken from the dramatic works. whether in Sanskrit and Prakrit or wholly in Prakrit (the Saṭṭakas). Here the name of the speaker or an indication of his status s always given at the beginning of each quotation from the dramas.
6. Arrangen.ent of Quotations and Mode of Reference
The justification of the meanings assigned to a word lies in the quotations from the Prakrit literature supplied in the entry after each meaning. To keep the bulk of the work as small as possible, only selected quotations are given, which are necessary to determine the meanings. When the word occurs in a long passage as can be seen from the varnakas of the Avg. canon, only such portion of it is quoted as is essential to understand it. The portion which is dropped is indicated by using three dots (...) in its place. As the dictionary is using all the Prakrit languages, it is necessary to represent all of them, at least with one quotation from each Prakrit if the word occurs in it This will mean that if a Prakrit language is not represented by any quotation, ope can conclude that the word does not occur in that
language, and if no passage is quoted under a particular meaning it means that, that meaning is not found in it. Very often a given word with a given sense may occur in different phonetic shapes in different languages In such a case it will occupy different places in the Dictionary. In view of these and similar considerations a purely chronological arrangement for quotations from all the languages taken together is not possible.
It is found convenient to put the seven Prakrits which have sizable literature into three groups based on their linguistic and semantic affinities A word having a religious. a philosophical or a technical meaning is likely to occur in AMg. JM and JS. but may not occur in M., S. Mg. and vice versa. Moreover a word may be found in any two languages within a group. There are a large number of words which are peculiar to Apa. having formal and semantic features not found in other Prakrits Hence for the arrangement of the quotations these languages are divided into three groups: (1) AMg. JM JS (2) M., S.. Mg. (3) Apa. The above sequence of languages within a group will be strictly followed, so that quotations from them will occur in that order. For example, if a word does not occur in AMg. then quotations from JM. and JS. will follow. The same arrangement will be valid for the second group, first M. and then S. and/or Mg. The Apa. quotations will come last, which is as it should be in view of the place of that language in the Middle Indo-Aryan group.
The sequence between the first two groups cannot be pre-decided. According to the evidence found, either of them may get precedence over the other Considerations like the phonetic shape of the word, grammatical peculiarities and meaning will be taken into account in this regard. The chronology of all the books used for this dictionary cannot be definitely settled vis-à vis all the other books. Therefore a convenient sequence which will be followed in giving quotations is given in the list called ⚫ Languageand subject-wise classification with approximate chronology of the Frakrit works'. In the case of AMg. the traditional divisions of the canon are followed, though no pretence is made of a strict chronological sequence. In the canon there are sufficient indications to believe that its parts do not belong to the same period and are often separated from each other by a long period of time. But for the convenience of reference, a book will be treated as one unit and all quotations from any of its part will come together. It should be particularly noted that even the demarcation of languages like AMg., JM. or JS is not always clear and often remains doubtful. Traditions are divided as regards the number of the Prakiraak works and many of them are attributed to writers who lived long