abhikkante

abhikkanta

masc acc pl of abhikkanta (pp); nt acc pl of abhikkanta (pp); masc loc sg of abhikkanta (pp); nt loc sg of abhikkanta (pp); …

superb; surpassing; excellent; lit. gone forward
going forward; going along; progressing; lit. gone forward
advanced; progressed; moved on; (comm) ending; depletion; lit. gone forward
(of an army) advanced; attacked; lit. gone forward

Built from

abhi — prefix · toward, forward
Concrete spatial sense: bearing down on, facing something with force. Cognates: Latin ob- (observe, obtain). Here the forward-directed energy becomes 'advanced' or 'excellent'.
ikkant — stem · gone
Past participle stem of √gam (go), marked by the reduplication ik- (from gam-) characteristic of perfective aspect. Related to English come and German kommen.
a — ending · masc/nt
Nominative singular masculine and neuter ending of the perfect participle; in the given forms (acc pl / loc sg) it marks the masculine and neuter singular/plural agreement.

Analysis. abhi + ikkanta, from abhi + gam-ta: 'gone forward toward', hence advanced or excellent. The reduplication ik- is characteristic of the perfective past participle of √gam.

Etymology. abhi- (toward, bearing down on; < PIE *obhi) + √gam (go; cognate with English come, Latin venire). The prefix's concrete sense of 'facing forward' extends to abstract 'advanced' or 'surpassing'. In doctrinal use, abhikkanta describes the Noble Path as 'gone forward', the forward momentum of spiritual progress.

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

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