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catuttālampi

catuttāla

adjective, nominative singular feminine with enclitic api (even, also)

1. four palm trees in height; four palm trees deep

Built from

• catu — root · four
  From PIE *kʷetu̯or-, cognate with Latin quattuor, Greek tettares, English four. The concrete sense of 'four items' carries into abstract counting and measurement.
• tāla — stem · palm tree; measure
  A unit of linear measurement in early Indian texts, literally the height or depth of a palm tree. Sanskrit tāla; possibly Dravidian origin but firmly established in Indo-Aryan usage as a standard measure.
• api — prefix · even, also
  Enclitic particle emphasizing or extending the scope of the preceding word; here meaning 'even as much as four palm-trees' or 'up to four palm-trees' in depth or height.

Analysis. catuttāla (adjective: four palm-trees as a measure) + api (even, also); nominalized as noun phrase meaning 'even four palm-trees' or 'up to four palm-trees' in measurement contexts.

Etymology. catuttāla is a compound: catu- (four, from PIE *kʷetu̯or-, cognate with Latin quattuor, Greek tettares, English four) + tāla (palm tree, likely from Sanskrit tāla, possibly connected to Dravidian roots; used as a standard measure of height or depth in early Indian texts).

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

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