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acirapakkante

acirapakkanta

masc acc pl of acirapakkanta (adj); masc loc sg of acirapakkanta (adj); nt loc sg of acirapakkanta (adj)

1. recently departed; soon after (someone) left

Built from

• a — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognate: English un-, Greek a(n)-.
• cira — root · long (in time)
  From PIE *kre- 'to make, last long'. Cognates: Greek χρόνος (khronos) 'time', Latin crassus (originally 'lasting, enduring').
• pa — prefix · forth, forward
  Spatial prefix: forward motion, going forth. Cognate: Greek/Latin pro-, English forth.
• kamati/pakkamati — root · goes, departs
  From √kam 'to go, move'. The prefix pa- intensifies and directionalizes the motion as 'going forth, departing'.
• anta — ending · past participle
  Perfect participle ending marking completed action; here 'departed, gone away'. Agrees with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case.

Analysis. a-cira-pakkanta: a- (not) + cira (long) + pakkanta (departed, gone away). The compound means 'not long departed', i.e. recently gone; used of time elapsed since departure or of one recently deceased.

Etymology. cira 'long (in time)' is cognate with Greek χρόνος (khronos) 'time' and Latin crassus (originally 'lasting long'); both descend from PIE *kre-. The prefix a- is plain negation (like English un-, Greek a-). pakkanta is the past participle of pakkamati 'departs, goes away' (pa- 'forth' + kamati 'goes', from √kam). The spatial sense of pa- (forward, forth) is preserved in 'going forth away'.

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

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