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jānanti

jānāti

pr 3rd pl of jānāti (verb)

1. knows; understands
2. knows (as)
3. finds out; learns; gets to know (if)
4. (rightly or wrongly) believes; assumes; considers (someone to be)

Built from

• jā — root · know, recognize
  The bare root √jā, meaning to perceive or recognize, appears in Sanskrit jñātá- (known) and Latin gnōtus. The concrete image is seeing or encountering something and holding it in mind.
• nā — stem · know (stem marker)
  The -nā- marks the present stem; in the thematic present, jānā- is the productive stem of the verb jānāti.
• nti — ending · 3rd plural present
  The ending -nti marks third person plural in the present indicative tense; it signals that multiple agents share the action of knowing.

Etymology. Root √jñā (Sanskrit jñā-, Greek *gno-), meaning "to know"; cognate with English "know", German "kennen", Latin "gnōscere". The sense is originally perceptual: "to recognize by seeing", whence "to know". The prefix prajānāti (knowing distinctly) shows how the root takes directional prefixes to specify kinds of knowing.

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

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