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lokānukampāya

lokānukampā

fem instr sg of lokānukampā (noun); fem dat sg of lokānukampā (noun); fem abl sg of lokānukampā (noun); fem gen sg of lokānukampā (noun); …

1. compassion for the world

Built from

• loka — root · world, beings
  From √lok- 'to see'; the realm of sight and experience. Cognate with English 'look'.
• anu — prefix · along, after, following
  Trails behind or follows the track of; conveys sympathy and attunement. Related to Greek ana- in the sense 'along, through'.
• kamp — root · to tremble, be moved
  The root sense is physical trembling; in anukampā it expresses emotional stirring, being shaken by another's condition.
• ā — ending · feminine noun marker
  Forms a feminine abstract noun from the verbal complex, nominalizing the action into a quality or state.

Analysis. loka 'world' + anukampā 'compassion'; anukampā itself analyzes as anu- (following, toward) + √kamp- (to tremble, be moved), so the whole compound means 'following-along-with the world's trembling', i.e. sympathetic vibration with sentient beings.

Etymology. Compound of loka (world, realm of beings; from √lok- 'to see', cognate with English 'look') and anukampā (compassion, from anu- 'along' + √kamp- 'to be moved, to tremble'). The prefix anu- carries the sense of trailing after, following the track of; √kamp- suggests being shaken or moved by another's plight. Together they denote the emotional resonance—the trembling-along-with—that constitutes compassion in Buddhist ethics.

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

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