‹ Back to the text

lokuttaro

lokuttara

masc nom sg of lokuttara (adj)

1. supra-mundane; transcendental; lit. beyond the world

Built from

• loka — root · world
  From PIE *leuk- 'to shine'; originally 'the visible/lit space', hence 'world'. Cognate with English 'look', 'light', Latin lux.
• ut — root · out, beyond
  From ud- 'up, out'; ut is the simple form meaning directional outward motion or transcendence.
• tara — ending · comparative suffix
  Comparative forming suffix; when attached to ut, it creates uttara 'further out, beyond, transcendent'. Works like Latin -or (superior).

Analysis. loka (world) + uttara (beyond, transcendent), lit. 'beyond the world'; in doctrine, denotes the supramundane path, fruition, and knowledge that transcend ordinary conditioned existence.

Etymology. loka descends from Proto-Indo-European *leuk- 'to shine, look' (cognates: English 'look', 'light', Latin lux, lucere); uttara is the comparative form of ut 'out', thus 'further out' > 'beyond, transcendent'.

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

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