‹ Back to the text
malaggahitāti
malaggahita
adj. (nominative feminine sg. malaggahitā + iti quotative particle)
- stained; dirtied; lit. grabbed dirt
- rusted; tarnished; lit. grabbed dirt
Built from
- mala — root · dirt, filth
From PIE *mel- 'to crush, spoil'. Cognate with Latin malus 'bad' and English 'malady'. The concrete sense is defilement through contact.
- g — prefix · (initial of gahati)
Assimilated from the initial consonant of the following root.
- gah — root · seize, grasp
Cognate with Latin habere 'to have' and English 'have', originally meaning 'to grasp or hold'. Here it captures the sense of clinging to or accumulating dirt.
- ita — ending · past participle
Forms the past participle, indicating a completed state: something that has been seized or grasped.
- ā — ending · nominative feminine
Feminine nominative singular agreement marker.
- iti — ending · quotation/exemplification
Quotative particle marking the word as an example or quoted form.
Analysis. mala (dirt, filth) + ggahita (past participle of gahati, 'seized, grasped'); literally 'dirt-seized', hence 'having grasped dirt' or 'stained by dirt'. The iti marks quotation or exemplification.
Etymology. From mala (cognate with Latin malus 'bad', English 'malady': both from PIE *mel- 'to crush, grind, spoil') and √gah (to seize, grab: related to Latin habere 'to have', English 'have', where the original sense is 'to grasp'). Together they image the concrete act of seizing or accumulating filth.