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aññatitthiyānaṁ

aññatitthiya

genitive plural of aññatitthiya (m.)

1. of wanderers of other sects
2. of non-Buddhist ascetics
3. of heretics

Built from

• a- — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognate with English un-, Greek a(n)-. Negates what follows.
• ñña — root · know
  From √jñā 'to know'; used to mean 'other' or 'strange' in the sense of 'not-known' or 'un-cognate'.
• titth — root · ford, crossing
  From √tṛ 'to cross over'; metaphorically a teaching or sect as a 'ford' for spiritual passage. Related to Sanskrit tārati 'crosses'.
• iya — ending · agent nominalizer
  Forms agent nouns; here 'one who belongs to, practitioner of a tittha'.
• ā — ending · nominative/oblique stem marker
  Marks the oblique stem before case endings.
• naṁ — ending · genitive plural
  Genitive plural ending; indicates possession or relationship, 'of the…'.

Analysis. aña (a- + -ña) 'not-knowing, other' + titthiya 'ford, teaching, sect'. Compound: 'those of other teachings/fords', i.e. adherents of non-Buddhist schools.

Etymology. aña from a- (negation prefix, cognate with Greek a-, English un-) + ña (from √jñā 'to know'). titthiya from tittha- 'ford, passage', from √tṛ (Sanskrit tārati 'crosses', cognate with English through). The metaphor: a tittha is a 'ford' or spiritual teaching that carries one across; aññatitthiya are those who follow other fords.

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

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