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āsītiko

āsītika

masc nom sg of āsītika (noun); masc nom sg of āsītika (adj)

1. liana; box bean plant; Entada scandens; lit. eighty years old
2. eighty years old

Built from

• ās — root · eight
  Cognate with Sanskrit aṣṭa, Greek oktō, Latin octō, English eight (from Indo-European *oḱtō(u)). The concrete sense of a set of eight units.
• -ī — ending · tens
  Formant for ordinal/collective numerals in Pali; creates the word for 'eighty' from the root for 'eight'.
• -ka — ending · diminutive/adjectival
  A common suffix in Pali that creates adjectives or diminutives; here likely marks the adjective 'eighty years old' or transfers the numerical sense to the plant.

Analysis. āsīti (eighty, from ās 'eight' + suffix -ī for tens) + -ka (diminutive/adjectival suffix); the plant name is a transferred epithet from its age or use, or a folk etymology linking it to the number eight.

Etymology. ās (eight) is cognate with Sanskrit aṣṭa, Greek oktō, Latin octō, English eight — all from Indo-European *oḱtō(u). The suffix -ī forms the tens (vīsati 'twenty', etc.); -ka is a common diminutive and adjectival formant in Pali.

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

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