1. ldum ra “garden”
2. btson ra “prison”
3. khrims ra (a) “prison,” (b) “(legal) court,” (c) “place of execution” (Jäschke 1881: s.v. ra ba)
4. phyugs ra “pen for cattle”
5. bshan ra “slaughter place” or “place of execution”
6. kun ra (for kun dga’ ra ba) (Jäschke 1881: s.v. ra ba)
7. lcang ra “garden with willow-trees” (Jäschke 1881: s.v. ra ba)
8. rta ra “stable or pen for horses” (Jäschke 1881: s.v. ra ba)
What about?
1. bstod ra
2. smad ra
3. bya ra
4. se ra
5. a ra = sma ra
6. sma ra “beard”
7. phyu ra “cheese”
1. ra sprod pa (autonomous verb) “to point out”
2. ra ’phrod pa (heteronomous verb) “to realise (something)” or “to conform” (?)
3. ra mda’ (i.e. dpung rogs = zla bo)
4. ra ’degs pa (Jäschke 1881: s.v. ra mda’)
5. ra ’dren pa (Jäschke 1881: s.v. ra mda’)
6. ra sdong “weeking willow” (Jäschke 1881: s.v.)
4. ra bzi ba “to become drunk”
G'devening D!
ReplyDeleteThe eight examples of -ra as second syllable all share a sense of a walled in (or fenced in) space of one kind or another. So they all seem similar to gangs-ra being a reduction of gangs-kyi ra-ba. So I wonder why this example isn't there. It's the first one that comes to my mind.
But my main question is, what holds the four examples of ra- as first syllable together? What common meaning, if any, do you see there? I was trying to think of something that might possibly belong to the same group, but the only thing I come up with is ra-bgo-ba (=ra-mgo-ba), in meaning of a leader, or ringleader. What is that ra- supposed to mean? I was thinking it might be a reduction of rab. Perhaps a tendency to drop the final 'b' under certain conditions? Could that possibly work?
Yours, D
Actually, I see from Brandon Dotson's article (pp. 13-14), that the spelling rab-mgo does occur, which might help to support the idea that ra-bgo represents a reduced form of rab-bgo (or rab-mgo, whichever).
ReplyDeleteBrandon Dotson, "Divination and Law in the Tibetan Empire: The Role of Dice in the Legislation of Loans, Interest, Marital Law and Troop Conscription," contained in: Matthew T. Kapstein & Brandon Dotson, eds., Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet, Brill (Leiden 2007), pp. 3-77.
Dear Dan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. Is gangs ra lexically attested? I have a feeling it sounds somewhat artificial. As for the component ra in ra mda’ and so on, I have no idea yet. I have some difficulty with the idea that it could be a reduction of rab. But who knows? Particularly considering ra ’degs (also ra mdegs in the brDa dkrol), I wonder if ra had once a meaning of ”adjacency,” “side,” or ”periphery.” The Tshangs-lha word for “proximity” near is ra. Could it be that ra ’degs literally means “support [provided from] the side” or “adjacent support,” i.e. assistance?
Best,
Dorji
Hmm. I'm mostly familiar with gangs-ra in place names, like Yol-mo Gangs-ra. But the Jim Valby glossary does have an entry:
ReplyDelete•gangs ra - snowy area [JV]
That seems to be about all there is that could be called "lexical" that I can find right away.
I'm not actually very sure if it means a 'wall of glaciers' and not a place covered in snow. And does it mean a range of glacial mountains (a chain of glacier-topped mountains) or a real encirclement by glaciers?
I tried to come up with pre-15th-century examples of the exact form gangs-ra, but failed so far. Of course Gangs-kyi Ra-ba-can as an epithet for Tibet does seem to be quite old (even if a Google search for the whole phrase doesn't result in one single 'hit'!).
Sorry, but I should have added something. What *does* turn up results after Googling is "Gangs-ri Ra-ba" and variant "Gangs-ri'i Ra-ba."
ReplyDeleteThe land of 'Ol-mo-lung-ring is always said to be surrounded by a nearly impassible mountain chain called Dbal-so Ra-ba, or "Wall of Sharp Teeth." Proof if any more be needed that it ought to be in the Pamirs.
ReplyDelete:) D