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ācikkheyya

ācikkhati

opt 3rd sg of ācikkhati (verb)

1. informs; tells (to); talks about
2. describes; points out; shows (something to)

Built from

• ā — prefix · toward, up to
  Prefix reversing the direction of motion: 'speaking toward' rather than 'speaking away'. Cognate with Sanskrit ā; no common European cognate.
• cikkh — root · speak, tell, say
  Cognate with Sanskrit cakṣ- (to see, perceive) and the IE root *sek- (to see, say). The root encodes the idea of bringing something to perception or utterance.
• a — ending · 3rd singular present
  Regular present tense marker in Pali, marking habitual or characteristic action.
• eyya — ending · optative
  Optative mood marker indicating wish, possibility, or potential: 'might speak', 'would speak', expressing the conditional or desiderative sense.

Analysis. ā + cikkhati: ā reverses the motion of √cikkhati, so ācikkhati means 'speaks toward' or 'brings to speech'; the optative form expresses a wish or possibility that someone might speak.

Etymology. From ā- (toward the speaker) + √cikkh- (to speak, tell). The root √cikkh- is cognate with Sanskrit cakṣ- 'to see, perceive' (root of cakṣus 'eye'), reflecting the Indo-European root *sek- 'to see, say'. The prefix ā- reverses the sense of speaking away to speaking toward or into the hearer's presence.

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

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