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antalikkhe

antalikkha

nt acc pl of antalikkha (noun); nt loc sg of antalikkha (noun); masc acc pl of antalikkha (adj); nt acc pl of antalikkha (adj); …

1. antalikkha (nt): sky; air; lit. living between
2. antalikkha (adj): related to sky; atmospheric; heavenly; celestial
3. antalikkhe (ind): in the sky; in the air

Built from

• anta — root · boundary, limit
  The concrete sense is of the edge or frontier where two regions meet; here it refers to the visible horizon or limit of the inhabited world.
• likkha — stem · marked, outlined, traced
  From √likh 'to scratch, mark, draw a line'. The compound imagery: the sky is the marked or traced boundary-space above, the visible vault that defines the limits of the world.
• khe — ending · locative singular
  The locative case ending -khe in the neuter marks the location 'in the sky, in the air', as in antalikkhe 'in the midst of sky'.

Analysis. anta- ('boundary, end, limit') + likkha (from √likh, 'to smear, mark, scratch'): lit. 'the marked/outlined boundary-space'; i.e. the visible horizon or vault of sky that marks the limits of the visible world. The second element may also relate to lih- 'to cling/adhere', yielding 'space where things adhere/remain (in air)'.

Etymology. anta (Skt anta, cognate with Lat antae 'pilasters, doorposts'; both from PIE *h₂ent- 'front, facing') + likkha. The root √likh appears in Skt likha 'scratched, marked'; this concrete sense of 'tracing a boundary line' naturally extends to 'the visible boundary of sky'. English lick, German lecken 'to lick' are cognates of √likh in the sense of 'passing over a surface'.

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

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