‹ Back to the text

nipakavuttino

nipakavuttī

masc nom pl of nipakavuttī (adj); masc acc pl of nipakavuttī (adj); masc dat sg of nipakavuttī (adj); nt dat sg of nipakavuttī (adj); …

1. living prudently; behaving intelligently; leading one's life skilfully

Built from

• ni — prefix · down, into
  Spatial prefix marking inward transformation and descent; cognate with English 'nether' and German 'nieder'. Here suggests the internal cooking or maturing of conduct.
• pak — root · cook, ripen, mature
  Cognate with Greek péssein and Latin coquere. The concrete image is of food ripened by heat; transferred to the ripening and refinement of wisdom through practice.
• vuttī — stem · way of living, conduct
  From √vah 'to carry, lead' (cognate with Latin vehere 'carry', English 'way'). Nominative plural marks the subject—those persons whose conduct has been refined.

Analysis. ni-paka-vuttī: ni (down, into) + paka (cook, ripen, mature) + vuttī (way of living, conduct). The compound depicts conduct that has been thoroughly ripened or matured through inward discipline—one who has cooked down (refined through practice) their way of living into wisdom.

Etymology. nipaka is ni- (down, into) + √pak (to cook, ripen, mature; cognate with Greek péssein 'to cook', Latin coquere). The prefix ni- here suggests the inward, digestive transformation of conduct through practice. Vuttī is from √vah (to carry, lead; cognate with Latin vehere, English 'way'). The image is of a life led through the fire of restraint—conduct matured and refined downward into its wisest form.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version