‹ Back to the text

anavayo

anavaya

masc nom sg of anavaya (adj)

1. master (of); complete (in); fully versed (in); lit. not fragmentary

Built from

• an — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognate with English 'un-' and Greek 'a(n)-'.
• avaya — stem · fragmentation, scattering
  Formed from ava- (down, away) + √ay (go); the concrete image of going to pieces or dispersing. No fragmentation = completeness.

Analysis. an- (not) + avaya (fragmentation, breaking apart); 'not fragmentary', hence complete mastery or comprehensive knowledge.

Etymology. a- (not, without) + avaya (from ava- 'down, off' + √ay 'go', lit. 'going to pieces'); cognate with English 'away' and German 'fort'. The spatial image of things not falling apart or dispersing conveys integrity and wholeness.

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

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