Synonyme in der Mahāvyutpatti. Zum Verständnis der mit (ma) ’dom na gebildeten Einträge

Abstract

At the beginning of the 9th century, official guidelines for translating Indian texts into Tibetan were issued. A Sanskrit-Tibetan dictionary, called Mahāvyutpatti, was also compiled at that time: Its approximately 9,500 entries had a lasting influence on Tibetan lexicography. For many Sanskrit words, the Mahāvyutpatti offers several possible translations (synonyms). This paper deals with entries which characterise synonyms by means of the terms 'dom na and ma 'dom na. The structure and function of these definitions are examined in detail, the text of the critical edition by Ishihama and Fukuda (published in 1989) is corrected if necessary. In fact, these definitions follow a general rule given in the Sgra-sbyor-bam-po-gnyis-pa: Literal translations should only be used if in the context ('dom na) synonyms are given that enable an easy understanding; if not (ma 'dom na), more common but less precise renderings should be chosen from the outset. The Tibetan equivalents marked with 'dom na are very often loan translations: As a rule, they render the traditional etymologies of the underlying Sanskrit words quite exactly. However, they are often difficult to understand, especially in Tibet, outside the Indian context from which they originated. Thus ma 'dom na and 'dom na are tags referring to the usage of the words in question. Except for minor irregularities these prescriptions are confirmed by findings from the 'Dul ba, the Tibetan version of the Vinaya. This shows that the rules in the Mahāvyutpatti are consistent with the older canonical literature. The (ma) 'dom na entries in the Mahāvyutpatti thus provide important clues to the historical development of the vocabulary of classical Tibetan.