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nigamassa

nigama

masc dat sg of nigama (noun); masc gen sg of nigama (noun); nt dat sg of nigama (noun); nt gen sg of nigama (noun)

1. town; market town; lit. going down
2. town; market town; lit. going down

Built from

• ni- — prefix · down, into
  Spatial prefix meaning downward motion or entry. Cognates: English nether, German nieder.
• gam — root · go
  Root meaning motion, movement. Cognates: English come, Latin venire, Sanskrit gam-.
• -a — ending · masculine/neuter nominative
  The thematic vowel forming the noun stem; combined with the genitive/dative inflection (case marker -ssa in surface form), marks the derived noun.

Analysis. ni- (down, into) + √gam (go): literally 'a going down', hence a settlement or gathering place where people come down to congregate and trade.

Etymology. ni- (down, into) + √gam (go, cognate with English come, Latin venire). The concrete image of descending into a settlement or marketplace underlies the abstract sense of a gathered community. Related to Sanskrit nigama.

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

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