‹ Back to the text

katakaraṇīyo

katakaraṇīya

masc nom sg of katakaraṇīya (adj)

1. who has done the job; who has done what needs to be done; who has fulfilled the obligation; epithet of an arahant

Built from

• kata — root · done
  Past participle of √kar 'to do'; the concrete sense is work completed, a task finished.
• karaṇīya — stem · what must be done
  Gerundive formation (√kar + -aṇīya) expressing obligatory action; in the compound it marks duty or obligation that falls due.

Analysis. kata (past participle of karoti, 'done') + karaṇīya (gerundive of karoti, 'what must be done'). The compound means 'one for whom the doing is done', i.e., whose duty is accomplished.

Etymology. Both elements derive from √kar (to do, make), cognate with Latin creare 'create' and English craft. The gerundive karaṇīya ('what needs to be done', with suffix -iya) parallels Sanskrit kāraṇīya.

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

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