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ñāyassa

ñāya

masc dat sg of ñāya (noun); masc gen sg of ñāya (noun)

1. way; means; method; system; approach

Built from

• ñā — root · know
  The root meaning 'to know' or 'to perceive'. Cognate with Sanskrit jñā, English 'know', Latin 'gnōscere', Greek 'ginōskō'. This is the basis for the nominal form.
• ya — ending · agent noun suffix
  Forms an agent noun or instrumental noun from the root, creating ñāya 'that which knows' or 'means of knowing', generalized to 'way, method, system'.

Etymology. From √ñā 'know' (Sanskrit jñā, cognate with English 'know', Latin 'gnōscere'). The noun ñāya is an agent noun meaning 'that by which one knows' or 'way of knowing', hence 'method, way, means'. The semantic shift from 'knowing' to 'way/method' reflects the concrete notion of a path one follows to arrive at knowledge.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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