Many thanks to all who replied. I am grateful for the grammatical references. As others may be interested, i include here the link, kindly sent to me by Victor Davella, to an informative discussion about the issue between two of the warhorses of Raj-period Indology:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/negative-a-with-finite-verbs-in-sanskrit/D0CCACADA75B64DAD5603ADDDFE6ADB1 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-asiatic-society/article/abs/negative-a-with-finite-verbs-in-sanskrit/D0CCACADA75B64DAD5603ADDDFE6ADB1Matthew Matthew T. Kapstein Professor emeritus Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris Associate The University of Chicago Divinity School Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/ https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1 https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1 https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949 Sent from [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) for iOS. -------- Original Message -------- On Saturday, 10/11/25 at 11:27 Matthew Kapstein <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear colleagues, > > In the 2500-line Prajñapāramitā i find expressions such as: > > nâtra kiMcid vidhyate nâvidhyate, “here nothing is penetrated nor > unpenetrated”. > > So far as I can determine, in avidhyate the initial a can only be taken as > privative. > Is this uniquely a peculiar Buddhist usage? > > thank you for your thoughts, > Matthew > > Matthew T. Kapstein > Professor emeritus > Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris > > Associate > The University of Chicago Divinity School > > Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences > > https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein > > https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/ > > https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1 > > https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1 > > https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949 > > Sent from [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) for iOS.
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