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maccunā

maccu

masc instr sg of maccu (noun); masc abl sg of maccu (noun)

1. death; Death

Built from

• mac — root · die
  The root √mr 'to die' appears here in the Pali form mac-. Cognates: Latin mors, English mort-.
• cu — ending · agent noun
  The suffix -tu (here -cu after internal sound changes) forms agent/action nouns from roots. This ending marks maccu as 'that which causes death' or 'death itself'.

Etymology. From Indo-European *mṛ-tu- 'death' (literally 'that which causes dying'). Cognates: Sanskrit mṛtyu, Latin mors (mortal, murder), English mort-, German Mord. The root √mr means 'to die'; maccu is the agent noun formed with the suffix -tu (like Latin -tus).

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

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