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avecca

ind.

1. perfectly; absolutely; (comm) having gone deeply with wisdom; lit. going down
2. knowing; understanding; discerning; lit. going down

Built from

• ava — prefix · down, off
  Marks downward motion or thoroughness; here suggests penetration into a subject. Cognate: Latin au- (aufero 'carry off').
• ecca — stem · gone, having gone
  Past participle of √i (go, move). Marks completion of the action of descent, yielding the adverbial sense 'thoroughly, with full penetration'.

Analysis. ava + √i (go); ava (down, off) + ecca (gone, past participle of eti, to go) — 'having gone down [into a matter]', hence penetrated to the depths; used adverbially to mean 'thoroughly, with complete understanding'.

Etymology. The prefix ava- (down, off; cognates: Latin au- as in aufero 'carry off') combines with the past participle of √i (go; cognate: English iterate, Latin ire). The concrete image is descent—going down into something to grasp it fully—which becomes the sense of complete, undivided understanding.

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

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