‹ Back to the text

aṭṭhaṅgiko

aṭṭhaṅgika

masc nom sg of aṭṭhaṅgika (adj)

1. with eight parts; eight-limbed; eightfold

Built from

• aṭṭha — root · eight
  From Indo-European *oktō; cognate with Sanskrit aṣṭa, Greek oktō, Latin octō, English eight. Denotes the number eight.
• aṅga — root · limb, part, factor
  From Indo-European *h₂enǵ- (to narrow, confine); cognate with Sanskrit aṅga. Denotes a distinct limb, part, or constituent element.
• -ika — ending · possessive, having
  Adjectival suffix forming possessive or characterizing adjectives. Here it attaches to the compound aṭṭha-aṅga to mean 'having eight parts/limbs'.

Analysis. aṭṭha (eight) + aṅga (limb, part, constituent) + -ika (possessive suffix forming adjectives). The compound means 'having eight limbs/parts', especially in the doctrinal term aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo (the Noble Eightfold Path).

Etymology. aṭṭha from Indo-European *oktō (eight), cognate with Sanskrit aṣṭa, Greek oktō, Latin octō, English eight. The prefix aṅga (limb, part, factor) is from Indo-European *h₂enǵ- (to narrow, confine, hence a limb as a distinct bounded part). The suffix -ika is a possessive adjective-forming suffix meaning 'of, having, characterized by'.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version