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cāgā

cāga

masc nom pl of cāga (noun); masc instr sg of cāga (noun); masc abl sg of cāga (noun); masc voc sg of cāga (noun); …

1. giving up; relinquishing; abandoning
2. generosity; sharing; liberality

Built from

• cā — root · abandon, leave
  From √caj; the concrete image is releasing one's grip, letting go. Sanskrit √tyaj; cognate with Latin cedere 'yield' and English 'cast'.
• ga — ending · action noun (masc a-stem)
  Nominal suffix deriving the abstract action noun from the root. Marks the nominative plural, instrumental singular, ablative singular, and vocative singular forms shown here.

Etymology. Root √caj (Sanskrit √tyaj) meaning 'to abandon, leave behind'. Cognate with Latin caeca 'to yield', and English archaism 'cast' (from Old Norse kasta). The shift from √caj to cāga follows the a-stem nominal suffix pattern. The semantic extension from 'abandoning' to 'generosity' reflects the doctrinal valuation of renunciation: giving up possessions becomes a cardinal virtue (dāna).

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

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