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kenaci

kaci

masc instr sg of kaci (pron); nt instr sg of kaci (pron)

1. kaci (pron): someone; something; anyone; anything; whoever
2. kenaci (pron): by anyone; with anyone; by something; with something; with anything; by anything

Built from

• ka — root · who, what
  Interrogative root cognate with Latin quī, English who, German wer. The bare interrogative 'what/who' becomes indefinite when marked.
• ci — ending · indefinite marker
  Postpositive particle making the interrogative indefinite; common in Pali to form 'anyone, anything, someone, something'.
• ena — ending · instrumental singular
  The instrumental case ending (with -e- as stem marker and euphonic -n-) marks the means or instrument; 'by means of, with'.

Analysis. kenaci is the instrumental singular of the indefinite pronoun kaci, formed with the instrumental ending -ena; the -e- is the instrumental stem marker and -n- is a euphonic buffer before -a-.

Etymology. kaci is an indefinite pronoun built on the interrogative stem ka- (who, what, related to Latin quī and English who). The suffix -ci is a postpositive particle that adds indefiniteness; the whole means 'some one or some thing'.

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

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