‹ Back to the text

akaniṭṭhānaṁ

akaniṭṭhāna

accusative singular neuter; a-kanistha-ana, meaning 'not inferior' or 'not the lowest'

1. not inferior
2. supreme
3. unexcelled
4. highest grade or station

Built from

• a — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)- (atheist).
• kan — root · small
  From Sanskrit kani 'small'; kanistha is the comparative form. The root suggests diminishment.
• istha — ending · comparative/superlative suffix
  Marks the comparative degree in Sanskrit/Pali; akin to Latin superlatives in -issimus.
• āna — ending · abstract noun
  Nominalizing suffix that turns the adjective into an abstract noun denoting a quality or state.

Analysis. a- (not, without) + kanistha (inferior, lowest, Sanskrit kanistha) + -āna (abstract noun ending); literally 'not-inferiority', hence 'the state of not being inferior' or 'supremacy'.

Etymology. a- (negation prefix, English un-) + kanistha (comparative of kani 'small', cognate with Sanskrit kaniṣṭha and Latin -issimus, the superlative ending). The prefix a- reverses the sense: what is not small is supreme.

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

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