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anāgatamaddhānaṁ

anāgatamaddha

accusative singular neuter of anāgatamaddha (the surface form anāgatamaddhānaṁ is a variant/spelling; see analysis)

1. the future time
2. the time to come
3. future period

Built from

• an- — prefix · not, without
  Negation prefix; plain non-occurrence. Cognate with English un-, Greek a(n)- (atheist, anonymous).
• ā- — prefix · toward, until
  Reverses motion. √gam 'go' becomes āgacchati 'comes' — motion directed toward the speaker. No common European cognate.
• gata — root · gone, come
  From √gam. The past participle āgata means 'arrived, come to'. Cognate with English come, Latin venire.
• maddha — stem · stretch, middle(?)
  Etymology obscure; possibly related to madhya 'middle' or a separate formation. May be a variant of maddhima 'intermediate' or a nominal stem of unknown origin.
• -naṁ — ending · accusative singular neuter
  Marks the noun as accusative case, used when the time-period is the object of a verb or governed by a preposition (e.g. 'in the future').

Analysis. anāgata (an- 'not' + āgata 'come', i.e. 'not-yet-come') + maddha (unclear formation, possibly related to madhya 'middle' or maddha 'dull'); compounds mean 'futurity' or 'the future stretch of time'; -naṁ is genitive/accusative singular marking.

Etymology. an- (negative prefix, 'not'; cognate with English un-, Greek a(n)-) + āgata (past participle of ā-gam 'come toward', the prefix ā- reversing the direction of √gam 'go'; cognate with English come). The compound denotes time that has 'not yet come' or 'not arrived'.

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

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