Pali Ordination Names

[ultraben]

Hi,

Just a question on Pali names given to monks on their ordination: Is there any reason why in Thailand most of them end with the vowel 'o' i.e.

Sumedho
Sucitto
Ñāṇasampanno
Thanissaro

I can only think of a few names where this is not the case e.g. Ajaan Orn Nyanasiri (อ่อน ญาณสิริ)

Cheers,

Ben

[ssasny]

Hi,

The reason Thai Ordination names often end in the letter 'o' is because the words are in the nominative, masculine, singular case.
(the noun 'siri' "splendor", is not in this group)

In Sri Lanka, for instance, the names are left in the undeclined stem form, which for masculine short 'a' nouns is 'a'.

I hope this is clear, perhaps have a glance at a Pāli declension table for masculine short 'a' nouns.

[ultraben]

Hi ssasny,

Thanks for the great reply.
I certainly know nothing of Pali grammar rules (yet!), so you've given me something to investigate further.

Much appreciated.

Ben

[TRobinson465]

Pali very commonly ends on "o" based on the grammar rules i believe. Even things like Buddha Dhamma Sangha are often rendered in Pali texts as Buddho, Dhammo, Sangho etc. when used in a sentence or phrase.