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mātugoravakena

mātugoravaka

masc instr sg of mātugoravaka (noun)

1. mother's mooing; mother's lowing

Built from

• mātu — root · mother (genitive)
  From mātā (nominative), an ancient kinship term cognate with Latin mater and English mother, all descending from Indo-European *meh₂-.
• gora — root · lowing, mooing
  The natural sound-word for cattle; goravaka adds the diminutive suffix -aka to intensify the emotional or intimate quality.
• -vaka — ending · diminutive suffix
  The suffix -vaka (or -ika) forms diminutives and agents; here it softens and personalizes the sound, as in a tender or pitiable utterance.
• -ena — ending · instrumental singular
  The instrumental ending -ena marks the ablative/instrumental case, expressing the means or accompaniment (by/with the mother's lowing).

Analysis. mātu (genitive of mātā, mother) + goravaka (lowing, the sound of cattle) — a descriptive compound denoting the characteristic sound made by the mother (cow), used to evoke maternal tenderness or poignancy.

Etymology. mātā is from the Indo-European root *meh₂- (to measure, mother), cognate with Latin mater, English mother, Greek mḗtēr. goravaka derives from gora (lowing sound) with the diminutive suffix -aka, evoking the tender or pitiful quality of a mother's call.

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

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