A NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION
The pronunciation of Pali words and names is quite easy providing the following simple rules are heeded. Among the vowels:
| a | i | u | as in "but," "pin," "duke"; |
|---|---|---|---|
| ā | ī | ū | as in "father," "keen," "pool"; |
| e | and | o | as in "way" and "home." |
Among the consonants, g is pronounced as in "girl," c as in "church," ñ as in "canyon." The cerebrals -t, d, n, l - are spoken with the tongue on the roof of the mouth; the dentals - ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ḷ- with the tongue on the upper teeth. m is a nasal as in "sing." The aspirates -k h, g h, c h, j h, t h, d h, t h, d h, p h, and b h - are single consonants pronounced with a slight outward puff of breath, e.g., th as in "Thomas" (not as in "that"), ph as in "top hat" (not as in "phone"). Double consonants are always enunciated separately, e.g., d d as in "mad dog," g g as in "big gun."
An o and an e always carry a stress, otherwise the stress falls on a long vowel -ā, ī, or ū - or on a double consonant, or on ṃ.
This list shows the most important of the changes in Ven. Nānamoli's manuscript terminology that were made for this edition. Changes marked with an asterisk were already introduced by Ven. Khantipālo in A Treasury of the Buddha's Words.
| PALI TERM | MS RENDERING | REVISED RENDERING |
|---|---|---|
| akusala | unprofitable | unwholesome |
| ajjhosāna | cleaving | holding |
| abhinivesa | insistence | adherence |
| arūpa | formless | immaterial |
| *asekha | the Adept | one beyond training |
| iddhi | success | (1) supernormal power; (2) spiritual power; (3) success |
| uddhacca-kukkucca | agitation and worry | restlessness and |
| upadhi | essentials of | (1) attachment; |
| existence | (2) object of attachment | |
| ottappa | shame | fear of wrongdoing |
| kāmā | sensual desires | sensual pleasures |
| kusala | profitable | wholesome |
| khaya | exhaustion | destruction |
| *citta | cognizance | mind |
| chanda | zeal | (1) desire; (2) zeal |
| *jhāna | illumination | jhāna |
| *tathāgata | the Perfect One | the Tathāgata |
| thīna-middha | lethargy and drowsiness | sloth and torpor |
| *dhamma | the True Idea | the Dhamma |
| dhamma | ideas | (1) things, states, factors; (2) mind-objects; (3) qualities; (4) teachings |
| nandt | relishing | delight |
| nāma | name | mentality |
| PALI TERM | MS RENDERING | REVISED RENDERING |
|---|---|---|
| nāmarūpa | name-and-form | mentality-materiality |
| *nibbāna | extinction | Nibbāna |
| nibbidā | dispassion | disenchantment |
| pañña | understanding | wisdom |
| patigha | resistance | (1) sensory impact; (2) aversion |
| padhāna | endeavour | striving |
| papañca | diversification | proliferation |
| paritassanā | anguish | agitation |
| pīti | happiness | rapture |
| *buddha | the Enlightened One | the Buddha |
| brahma | divine | holy, divine |
| brahmā | the Divinity | Brahmā |
| brāhmaṇa | divine (caste) | brahmin |
| bhāvanā | maintaining in being | development |
| muditā | gladness | appreciative joy |
| rūpa | form | (1) form; (2) material form, materiality; (3) fine-material (being) |
| vicāra | pondering | sustained thought |
| vicikicchā | uncertainty | doubt |
| vitakka | thought, thinking | thought, applied thought |
| virāga | fading away of lust | dispassion |
| sakkäya | embodiment | personality |
| *sankhārā | determinations | formations |
| *sangha | the Community | the Sangha |
| *sattā | creatures | beings |
| samana | monk | recluse |
| *sekha | the Initiate | the disciple in higher training |
| hiri | conscience | shame |