Sakatayana
Encyclopedia
is a Sanskrit grammarian of Iron Age India
(fl. roughly 8th c. BCE). His work is referred by scholars such as Yaska
(around 7th c. BCE) and Pāṇini (circa 5th c. BCE), as well as other Sanskrit grammarians, but is
lost to us today.
He claimed that all nouns are ultimately derived from some verbal
root
.
This refers to the origin of names of things, or nouns.
To cite an English example, the noun origin derives etymologically
from the Latin originalis, ultimately derived from the verb oriri, "to rise". An example of a morphological
derivative
might be the noun hitter - derived from the verb hit.
This process is reflected in the Sanskrit
grammar
as the
system of krit-pratyayas or verbal affixes.
In his The word and the world, the philosopher
Bimal Krishna Matilal
refers to this debate (which lasted several
centuries) as an
Sakatayana also proposed that functional morpheme
s such as prepositions do not have any meaning by themselves, but contribute to meaning only when attached to nouns or other content words:
Sakatayana says that prepositions when not attached (to nouns or verbs) do not express meanings ; but Gargya says that they illustrate (or modify) the action which is expressed by a noun or verb, and that their senses are various (even when detached). . This view was challenged by Gargya
. This debate goes to the heart of the compositionality debate among ancient Indian Mimamsa
kas and Vyakaran/grammarians.
His text may have been called the , in which
he also describes the process of determining gender in animate
and inanimate creation.
Not much is known about Sākatāyana's life, but
it is accepted that he lived in Gandhara
, what is today the vicinity of
Peshawar
.
Iron Age India
Iron Age India, the Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent, succeeds the Late Harappan culture, also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition...
(fl. roughly 8th c. BCE). His work is referred by scholars such as Yaska
Yaska
' ) was a Sanskrit grammarian who preceded Pāṇini , assumed to have been active in the 5th or 6th century BC.He is the author of the Nirukta, a technical treatise on etymology, lexical category and the semantics of words...
(around 7th c. BCE) and Pāṇini (circa 5th c. BCE), as well as other Sanskrit grammarians, but is
lost to us today.
He claimed that all nouns are ultimately derived from some verbal
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
root
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
.
This refers to the origin of names of things, or nouns.
To cite an English example, the noun origin derives etymologically
from the Latin originalis, ultimately derived from the verb oriri, "to rise". An example of a morphological
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
derivative
might be the noun hitter - derived from the verb hit.
This process is reflected in the Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
as the
system of krit-pratyayas or verbal affixes.
In his The word and the world, the philosopher
Bimal Krishna Matilal
Bimal Krishna Matilal
Bimal Krishna Matilal was an Indian philosopher whose influential writings present the Indian philosophical tradition as being concerned with the same issues as have been the theme in Western philosophy...
refers to this debate (which lasted several
centuries) as an
interesting philosophical discussion between the
nairuktas or etymologists and the pāṇinīyas or grammarians.
According to
the etymologists, all nouns (substantives) are derived from some verbal root or the other. Yāska in his Nirukta refers to this view (in fact defends it) and ascribes it to an earlier scholar Śākaṭāyana. This would require that all words are to be analysable into atomic elements, 'roots' or 'bases' and 'affixes' or 'inflections' — better known in Sanskrit as dhātu and pratyaya [...] Yāska reported the view of Gārgya who opposed Śākaṭāyana (both preceded Pāṇini who mentions them by name) and held that not all substantival words or nouns (nāma) were to be derived from roots, for certain nominal stems were 'atomic'. (p. 8-9)
Sakatayana also proposed that functional morpheme
Functional morpheme
A functional morpheme is a morpheme which simply modifies the meaning of the word, rather than supplying the root meaning of the word. That is to say that it functions, but does not mean in and of itself...
s such as prepositions do not have any meaning by themselves, but contribute to meaning only when attached to nouns or other content words:
Sakatayana says that prepositions when not attached (to nouns or verbs) do not express meanings ; but Gargya says that they illustrate (or modify) the action which is expressed by a noun or verb, and that their senses are various (even when detached). . This view was challenged by Gargya
Gargya
Gārgya is an Indian patronymic and may refer to:* a king of the Gandharvas* a grammarian predating Pāṇini, see Vyakarana* the author of the Samaveda-Padapatha* a Brahmin gotra...
. This debate goes to the heart of the compositionality debate among ancient Indian Mimamsa
Mimamsa
' , a Sanskrit word meaning "investigation" , is the name of an astika school of Hindu philosophy whose primary enquiry is into the nature of dharma based on close hermeneutics of the Vedas...
kas and Vyakaran/grammarians.
His text may have been called the , in which
he also describes the process of determining gender in animate
and inanimate creation.
Not much is known about Sākatāyana's life, but
it is accepted that he lived in Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
, what is today the vicinity of
Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
.