masculine nominative singular + iti (quotative particle)
Analysis. nāgo + iti: nominative singular nāgo ('a noble one, an elephant') + iti (quotative postposition meaning 'thus, saying'), forming a nominal quotation or utterance frame; common in narrative and doctrinal contexts where the term itself is cited or emphasized.
Etymology. Pali nāga: connection to Sanskrit nāga (serpent, elephant, noble person) is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *snāg- 'to creep, snake' (cognate with Latin natrix 'water snake', English snake via Old Norse snákr). The word carries the primary image of a creeping or gliding creature; the semantic shift to 'elephant' reflects the tusked serpent-like power; figuratively, 'noble person' and 'arahant' transfer the serpent's dignity and the elephant's majesty to the spiritually exceptional. In the Dhamma context, nāga often denotes one who has transcended the base (the snake-like crawling) and attained majesty (the elephant's bearing), or the Buddha and arahants as beings of supernatural (dragon-like) power.
Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.
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