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attakilamathānuyogo

attakilamathānuyoga

masc nom sg of attakilamathānuyoga (noun)

1. practice of self-mortification

Built from

• atta — root · self
  From Pali atta, Skt. ātman, the reflexive pronoun meaning 'self' or 'soul'. No secure Indo-European cognate.
• kilatha — stem · fatigue, torment
  A noun derived from the root √kil-, meaning 'to strain, weary'. Part of the first compound member.
• matha — stem · churning, tormenting
  From √math 'to churn, grind, torment'; the concrete sense of grinding friction underlies the meaning of affliction.
• anu — prefix · along, following
  Following after, tracing the track of; Greek ana- 'along, through'. Turns an action into a practice or habitual following.
• yoga — stem · yoking, practice
  From √yuj 'to yoke, join'; cognate with Latin iugum 'yoke' and English yoke. Means a discipline or sustained practice.
• a — ending · nominative marker
  Masculine singular nominative ending in Pali, marking the word as the subject or citation form of the noun.

Analysis. attakilamatha + ānuyoga: 'self-mortification' (atta- 'self' + kilatha 'fatigue, torment' + matha 'churning, tormenting') compounded with ānuyoga 'practice following after' (anu- 'along, following' + yoga 'yoking, practice'), literally 'the practice following upon self-torment'.

Etymology. atta- derives from Pali atta (Skt. ātman), the self; kilatha and matha both relate to the root √math, meaning 'to churn, grind, torment'; ānuyoga compounds anu- 'following after' (Greek ana-, 'along') with yoga from √yuj 'to yoke, join', cognate with Latin iugum and English yoke. The compound contrasts with the Buddha's Middle Way doctrine rejecting both indulgence and self-affliction.

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

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