Headword |
ཡིག་དཔོད། yig dpod |
Translation |
One who reads out (i.e., dictates) a text so that the scribe can write the text down. |
Description |
Tshig mdzod chen mo (s.v. yig dpod): “an expression for another person writing down [a text] after one person has read [it] out, … for example, ‘Please dictate the text and I can write [it] down’” (mi gcig gis bklags te mi gzhan zhig gis ’bri ba’i ming | ... khyod kyis yig dpod gnang dang| ngas bris chog |). See aslo ibid. (s.v. dpod pa): mi zhig gis rim bzhin bshad nas mi gzhan zhig la yi ger ’god ’jug pa | ... khyed rang gis yi ge ’bri rogs gnang| ngas dpod yong|... yi ge dpod pa|. The meaning of the word seems to be clear. Also see bTsan-lha’s brDa dkrol gser gyi me long (s.v. dpod pa): yi ge rang gis bshad nas mi gzhan zhig la 'brir bcug pa. Its etymology, however, seems uncertain. Jäschke, for example, does not record dpod pa. The Dag yig gsar bsgrigs (s.v. dpod pa) states that it is an archaic word for “entrusting” (bcol pa) and “dispatching” (bskur ba) and also suggests that dpod pa to be cognate with spod pa < sprod pa): bcol ba dang bskur ba’i brda rnying du bshad pa mthong | yul skad du sprod pa la dpod pa sprad pa la dpad pa zer ba lta bu |. The possibility of dpod pa being a cognate with spo ba “to shift,” “to transfer” (its imperative form being spos) does not seem to be considered. At any rate, terms such as yig dpod, yi ge dpod pa, dpod bris, and the like, reveal the Tibetan practice of how texts have been copied and transmitted, and a knowledge of which would be useful for conceiving and explaning what could have gone wrong in the process of dictating and writing down. Also, the expression yi ge dpod rtsom also reveals that not only have been text copied and transmitted by dictating but also works were composed in this manner. See the Tshig mdzod chen mo (s.v. yi ge dpod rstom): yig tshig gzhan la dpod bzhin du rtsom pa |. Accordingly, in the Tibetan textual tradition, we cannot always anticipate an “autographic” version of a work, for the first version of the work can be the one written by the scribe. |
Sources for Term |
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