Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Hello - I'm trying to figure out how to say the plural of umi (wave) as in waves, fluid waves, or rippling waves.

Would that be umiyo?

I'm using it with another word, so two words: name and waves. The name is a personal name, for a personality and a concept. So together it looks like this in English:

name/concept waves

In Pali?

Cheers,

Rishi (Isi)

Umi is Japanese so there is no plural per se - it would be singular or plural depending heavily on context and not on a change in the word itself, as in English. By the way, umi means ocean, so if you want 'waves' you need to say nami (as in tsunami, "harbor waves"). This shows the point I'm making - nami can mean one wave or a million.

Samudda means "ocean, sea" in Pali, so that's the equivalent word for umi. For waves you probably want the word "vritti", which very generally refers to "waves (vritti) on the mind-lake", but this is a Hindu/Sanskrit term I think, not Pali.

Thanks for the interpretation.

Either way, umi is listed as a meaning for wave in dictionaries referencing Pali, and I would like to learn how to properly decline it.

Anybody else?

rishi wrote:Hello - I'm trying to figure out how to say the plural of umi (wave) as in waves, fluid waves, or rippling waves.

Would that be umiyo?

I think that may be right. I'm still in the learning stage myself, but that appears to be the correct way to make a feminine noun plural.

See: http://www.vridhamma.org/Lesson-18.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've just checked two Pali-English dictionaries online and neither of them have "umi" as an entry. I wonder - will you link the dictionary you're using?

Sobeh wrote:I've just checked two Pali-English dictionaries online and neither of them have "umi" as an entry. I wonder - will you link the dictionary you're using?

Try a long u, then you'll find it in the PTS dict.

Bottom of the page:

http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philol ... li.1910305" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks David - I'm merely a dabbler but picking up tidbits here and there.

I've switched to using "vega" now, as it goes better with the initial word, has more apparent connotations and in one sense means current. The plural form appears to be vegā, a little easier as well in my opinion.

rishi wrote:Hello - I'm trying to figure out how to say the plural of umi (wave) as in waves, fluid waves, or rippling waves.

Would that be umiyo?

From the Milindapanha:

"yathā vā pana, mahārāja, mahāsamudde ūmiyo na sakkā parimāṇaṃ kātuṃ `ettakā mahāsamudde ūmiyo'ti, evameva kho, mahārāja, pabbajjā bahuguṇā anekaguṇā appamāṇaguṇā, na sakkā pabbajjāya guṇaṃ parimāṇaṃ kātuṃ.

"Or, just as, great king, it is not possible to make an estimate of the waves in the great ocean, 'so many are the waves in the great ocean,' going forth is of great virtue, of manifold virtue, of unlimited virtue; it is not possible to make an estimate of the virtue of going forth."

Miln 5.1.3 gihipabbajitasammāpaṭipattipañho

yuttadhammo wrote: "yathā vā pana, mahārāja, mahāsamudde ūmiyo na sakkā parimāṇaṃ kātuṃ `ettakā mahāsamudde ūmiyo'ti, evameva kho, mahārāja, pabbajjā bahuguṇā anekaguṇā appamāṇaguṇā, na sakkā pabbajjāya guṇaṃ parimāṇaṃ kātuṃ.

Miln 5.1.3 gihipabbajitasammāpaṭipattipañho

Excellent, thanks Bhante. It looks like some of the Pali lessons are working for me.

I appreciate the way you chose to respond, and as such I do go out and issue forth.

yuttadhammo wrote:

rishi wrote:Hello - I'm trying to figure out how to say the plural of umi (wave) as in waves, fluid waves, or rippling waves.

Would that be umiyo?

From the Milindapanha:

"yathā vā pana, mahārāja, mahāsamudde ūmiyo na sakkā parimāṇaṃ kātuṃ `ettakā mahāsamudde ūmiyo'ti, evameva kho, mahārāja, pabbajjā bahuguṇā anekaguṇā appamāṇaguṇā, na sakkā pabbajjāya guṇaṃ parimāṇaṃ kātuṃ.

"Or, just as, great king, it is not possible to make an estimate of the waves in the great ocean, 'so many are the waves in the great ocean,' going forth is of great virtue, of manifold virtue, of unlimited virtue; it is not possible to make an estimate of the virtue of going forth."

Miln 5.1.3 gihipabbajitasammāpaṭipattipañho