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acirapakkantassa

acirapakkanta

masc dat sg of acirapakkanta (adj); nt dat sg of acirapakkanta (adj); masc gen sg of acirapakkanta (adj); nt gen sg of acirapakkanta (adj)

1. recently departed; soon after (someone) left

Built from

• a — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. The prefix reverses the sense of temporal distance.
• cira — root · long (time)
  Cognate with Greek khronos 'time'. Stands as the temporal measure.
• pa — prefix · forth, forward
  Intensifies and directs the motion of going; part of pakkamati.
• kkam — root · go, come
  Cognate with English come (PIE *gʷem-). The verbal root underlying pakkanta.
• ta — ending · past participle
  Marks pakkanta as the past participle (agreeing with the head noun in gender and case).

Analysis. a-cira-pakkanta: a- 'not' + cira 'long (time)' + pakkanta 'departed' (past participle of pakkamati). Literally 'not-long-departed', i.e. recently gone.

Etymology. cira 'long' is cognate with Greek khronos 'time' and English year (via PIE *ǵher- 'grow, ripen'); pakkamati 'departs, goes away' is from pa- 'forth' + kamati 'goes' (√kam, cognate with English come). The prefix a- carries plain negation (English un-), so the compound literally negates 'long-time-departed' to mean 'recently departed'.

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

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