Well, sometimes. I have been at pains to point out that taking an English phrase likeSDC wrote: ↑Mon Mar 21, 2022 1:56 pmFor a single word usage in one sutta, I agree. My suggestion early on was that in gathering together what is found in a PED along with the choices of different translations in one or multiple suttas, puts us in a good position to see what the various options have in common. I think this can be done with the English as long as the investigation is comprehensive.mikenz66 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 21, 2022 3:20 am My point is that trying to do that investigation by examining the connotations of the particular English words that were used in a translation is quite likely to be misleading. If there is some important subtlety to the meaning, then one needs to examine how the Pali words are used in other contexts.
"one obtains ..." as evidence of possessiveness is likely to be highly misleading, since it's probably just a literary idiom. As I have said, if I compare translations it often becomes obvious that what is implied by one English choice is not always implied by another, and is probably accidental. If both Bhikkhu Bodhi's and Bhikkhu Sujato's translations have similar implications, that might be worth pursuing.
And, of course, there is the problem that sometimes the Pali is using some particular idiom. That's not a problem for competent translators, but it poses difficulties if one thinks translating means looking up words in a dictionary.
Mike