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nibbānogadhañhi

nibbānogadha

adjective; nominative singular masculine with enclitic hi (emphatic particle)

1. immersed in Nibbāna

Built from

• ni — prefix · out of, away from
  Negation and reversal; the fire is blown outward, hence extinguished.
• bbāna — stem · blowing, wind
  From √vā 'blow'; the cessation is imaged as the blowing-out of the flame of craving.
• o — prefix · down (form of ava-)
  Spatial prefix marking descent into depth.
• gadha — stem · immersed, sunk
  From √gādh 'sink, plunge'; one immersed in or absorbed into the depths of something.
• hi — ending · indeed, surely (enclitic)
  Emphatic particle reinforcing the adjective; adds focus and certainty to the assertion.

Analysis. nibbāna + ogadha (in which ogadha is itself ava + gādha, 'sunk down into'); the compound expresses one deeply plunged into the cessation of suffering. The enclitic hi is emphatic.

Etymology. nibbāna: nis ('out of') + vāna ('blowing'), cognate with Sanskrit nirvāṇa—the fire blown out, extinction. ogadha: ava ('down') + gādha (√gādh 'immerse, sink'), with ava- providing the imagery of descent into depths. Related to English 'abysm' in force (depths plunged into).

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

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