durāgatānaṁ

duragata

genitive plural masculine of durāgata, past participle of durāgacchati

of those gone to a bad destination
of the miserable
of those in unfortunate circumstances

Built from

du(r) — prefix · bad, wrongly
Bad or difficult condition; the prefix intensifies the negative outcome. Greek dys- shows the same origin.
ā — prefix · toward, to
Reverses the direction of the root √gam (go); ā-gata means having gone toward or reached.
gat — root · go, gone
From √gam 'to go'; related to English come through Indo-European *gwem-.
a — stem · masculine stem-former
Converts the past participle into the noun durāgata (one who has gone badly).
naṁ — ending · genitive plural
The genitive plural marks possession or association: 'of those gone to a bad destination'.

Analysis. du(r)- (bad, ill, wrongly) + ā- (toward, up to) + gata (gone, past participle of gacchati go). The compound durāgacchati means to go badly or reach a bad destination; duragata is the past participle describing one who has gone badly. In the canon, durāgati and durāgata refer to the four bad destinies (niraya, tiracchānayoni, pretalokadhātu, asuralokadhātu) or those inhabiting them.

Etymology. The prefix du(r)- (Greek dys-, bad, wrongly) combined with ā-gata (gone toward) creates the sense of going wrong or ending badly. Compare Sanskrit duragatá. The root √gam (go) is related to English come and Latin venīre through the Indo-European *gwem-.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version