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atthaṅgamāya

atthaṅgama

masc dat sg of atthaṅgama (noun)

1. disappearance; vanishing; settling down; subsiding; passing away (of); lit. going home
2. (of the sun) setting; going down

Built from

• a- — prefix · toward, to
  Reverses the motion of √gam; points motion toward a destination or home.
• tha — root · go, place
  Related to √i 'go' (Latin ire). Attested in Sanskrit sthā 'stand, be placed'; the sense 'goal' or 'direction home' arises from the resting-place reached.
• ṅgama — root · going, coming
  From √gam 'go, come'; cognate with Latin venire 'come' (through Italic), English come. The nasal infix -n- marks habitual or natural motion.
• āya — ending · dative singular
  Marks the indirect object or beneficiary: motion 'toward' the setting or disappearance, or the goal itself being aimed at.

Analysis. atthaṅgama is a bahuvrīhi compound: attha (direction home, goal) + ṅgama (going). Lit. 'going to the goal/home'; used of the sun's descent and the fading of phenomena.

Etymology. attha is from √i 'go' (related to Latin ire, English iterant); ṅgama is from √gam 'go' (related to come, English come). The prefix a- here marks direction 'toward'; the compound frames 'going' as motion toward a destination or rest-point, hence 'setting' and 'subsiding'.

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

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