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lokassa
loka
masc dat sg of loka (noun); masc gen sg of loka (noun)
- world; universe; cosmos
- world; plane of existence
- people (of the world); population
- world of experience; (comm) world of aggregates, sense spheres and elements
Built from
- lok — root · world, visible space
From PIE *leuk- 'to see, shine'. The concrete image is of the bright, visible expanse that can be seen and experienced. Cognate with English look, Latin lux 'light', Sanskrit loka-, Greek leukos 'white, bright'.
- -a — ending · masculine nominative stem
Masculine -a stem ending, establishing loka as a masculine noun. The genitive -ssa and dative -ssa forms shown in the inflected surface form lokassa are secondary case endings applied to this stem.
- -ssa — ending · genitive or dative singular
Pronominal case ending marking either genitive ('of the world') or dative ('to/for the world'), depending on syntactic context. The ending is borrowed from pronominal inflection and attaches to the -a stem.
Etymology. From PIE *leuk- 'to see, light' (cognate with Sanskrit loc-, Latin lux 'light', English look, Greek leukos 'white, bright'). Loka originally meant 'what is seen or visible space', then 'world' as the visible realm of experience. The root sense of brightness and visibility underlies the sense of the world as the 'open space' accessible to sight and experience.