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abhijjhādomanassanti

abhijjhādomanassa

masculine, nominative singular (quoted form with iti)

1. covetousness and depression; wanting and unhappiness; craving and aversion; greed and distress

Built from

• abhi — prefix · toward, over
  Facing direction, bearing down on the object of desire. Cognate Latin ob- (observe).
• ijjhā — root · lust, greed
  Obscure root; possibly related to Sanskrit icchā 'desire', though Pali phonology makes the connection uncertain.
• do — prefix · bad, ill-will
  Intensifying or negative sense; may relate to Sanskrit doṣa 'fault, defect', cognate Greek dys- (dysfunction).
• manas — root · mind, thought
  Cognate Latin mēns, English mind, German Minne. The root √man 'think' underlies all three.

Analysis. abhijjhā (covetousness, from abhi- 'toward, bearing down' + ijjhā 'lust, greed') + domanassa (depression, displeasure; from dosa 'ill-will' + manas 'mind'). Together, the pair denotes the two faces of craving: grasping-forward (abhijjhā) and recoiling-aversion (domanassa). In the canon, this compound appears as a standard descriptor of mental turbidity, especially in the Five Hindrances (nīvaraṇa).

Etymology. abhijjhā: abhi- (toward, bearing down; cognate Latin ob-) + ijjhā, an obscure root possibly related to Sanskrit icchā 'desire' (though the morphology is opaque); domanassa: do- or dosa (ill-will, aversion; possibly related to Sanskrit doṣa 'fault, defect') + manas (mind; cognate Latin mēns, English mind). The compound as a whole encodes the Buddhist analysis of mental suffering as a oscillation between craving-grasping and aversion-distress.

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

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