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gāmakathaṁ

gāmakathā

accusative singular feminine of gāmakathā (compound noun)

1. village gossip
2. worldly talk
3. trivial conversation

Built from

• gāma — root · village
  From √gam 'go', a settled place where one goes; cognate with Sanskrit grāma, English 'gram' (as in kilogram, a measure of weight), and Greek choron 'space, land'.
• kathā — stem · talk, speech
  A noun from the root *kath- 'speak'; related to Sanskrit kathā and the general Indo-European family of speech words. Here it functions as the second element of a compound.
• m — ending · accusative singular
  The accusative singular feminine ending -aṁ (from -ā + m) marks the object of a verb; here the compound is in the accusative case.

Analysis. gāma (village, from √gam 'go', settlement) + kathā (talk, speech); the compound denotes casual or idle speech about everyday village matters, contrasted in the canon with serious Dhamma discourse.

Etymology. gāma cognate with Sanskrit grāma and Greek choron, all from the Indo-European root for 'settle' or 'dwell'; kathā from *kath- 'speak', related to Sanskrit kathā and Greek kathos.

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

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