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jātakaṁ

jātaka

accusative singular neuter

1. birth story
2. tale of the Buddha's past lives
3. Jātaka collection (canonical Buddhist text)

Built from

• jāta — stem · born
  past participle of √jan 'give birth, be born' (cognate with Latin genus, English kin, Greek genos). Expresses what has come into being.
• ka — ending · diminutive/nominalizer
  suffix forming neuter nouns and sometimes diminutives; here creates an abstract noun meaning 'a story of birth'.

Analysis. jāta (born, past participle of √jan) + ka (diminutive or nominalizing suffix); a story about a birth or past life

Etymology. √jan 'to be born' (Sanskrit janati, English kin, Latin genus); -ka is a common nominalizing suffix. The word refers to the canonical collection of stories depicting the Buddha's and his disciples' previous existences.

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

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