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opilāpeti

pr 3rd sg of opilāpeti (verb)

1. immerses; drowns (in); lit. causes to float down

Built from

• o- — prefix · down, downward
  Variant of ava- (before voiced consonants or liquids, assimilation narrows it). The concrete imagery of downward motion extends to being caught, overwhelmed, or submerged.
• pilāp- — stem · cause to float, immerse
  Causative stem formed from pilati (float, drift). Pilati is cognate with Sanskrit plavate (swim, float) from the Indo-European root *plew- (flow, float).
• -eti — ending · 3rd sg. present
  Present tense ending, 3rd person singular active; marks continuous or habitual action in the present.

Analysis. o- (variant of ava-, downward) + pilāpeti (causative of pilati, to float/drift); lit. 'causes to float downward', used of overwhelming or submerging, often figuratively of greed or delusion drowning the mind.

Etymology. ava- 'down, downward' (cognates: Latin aufero 'carry off'; English of/off) + pilāti, to float or drift (compare Sanskrit plavate 'swims, floats', from Indo-European *plew- 'to flow'). The prefix ava- shifts from spatial descent to the sense of being engulfed or overwhelmed; pilāpeti as causative adds the sense of causing that submersion.

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

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