‹ Back to the text

adassāvī

masc nom sg of adassāvī (adj); masc nom pl of adassāvī (adj); fem nom sg of adassāvī (adj); nt nom pl of adassāvī (adj); …

1. who has no regard (for); lit. who has not seen

Built from

• a- — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)- (atheist, anonymous).
• dass- — root · see, perceive
  From √dṛś (Sanskrit drś). The root carries the concrete image of sight and by extension, of knowing and understanding.
• -āvī — stem · one who is (habitually)
  Participial stem forming agent nouns; -āvī is the nominative singular masculine form of the adjective derived from the root.

Analysis. a- (prefix, not, without) + dassā- (stem of dassāvin, one who sees) + -vī (nominative singular masculine ending). Literally 'one who is not seeing'; in doctrinal usage, one who lacks insight into the Dhamma, especially the three marks and four noble truths.

Etymology. From a- (negation) + √dṛś (Sanskrit drś, 'see'), cognate with English 'direct' and Latin 'dicere' in the sense of pointing out or making visible. The prefix a- here negates the entire notion of seeing or discerning.

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

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