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apāṇake

apāṇaka

masc acc pl of apāṇaka (adj); nt acc pl of apāṇaka (adj); masc loc sg of apāṇaka (adj); nt loc sg of apāṇaka (adj)

1. (of water) with no living beings; lit. no breath

Built from

• a- — prefix · not, without
  Negation: marks the absence of the quality that follows. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)- (atheist).
• pāṇ- — root · breathe, live
  From PIE *per- 'to breathe, pass through'. Sanskrit prāṇa (breath, life); related to English 'pore' and Greek pneûma (spirit, breath).
• -a — ending · diminutive/agentive
  Nominal suffix forming agent or diminutive nouns from roots; marks the creature as a 'breather' or small living thing.

Analysis. a- (prefix, not) + pāṇaka (breathing creature, from pāṇa breath + -ka diminutive suffix); lit. 'non-breathing', used of water ritually pure because devoid of animate life.

Etymology. a- (privative prefix, 'not, without') + pāṇa (breath, life-force; Sanskrit prāṇa, from PIE *per- 'to breathe, pass through'; cognate with English 'pore' in its respiratory sense and Greek pneûma 'spirit, breath'). The concrete image is the absence of breath that marks living things; hence water without visible organisms.

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

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