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pāṇupete

pāṇupeta

masc acc pl of pāṇupeta (adj); nt acc pl of pāṇupeta (adj); masc loc sg of pāṇupeta (adj); nt loc sg of pāṇupeta (adj); …

1. lifelong; until death; lit. approached breath

Built from

• pāṇu — root · breath, life
  From √prā 'to fill, breathe'; Sanskrit prāṇa. The concrete sense of respiration and the animating breath that marks life itself.
• peta — stem · approached, fallen toward
  Past participle of petati, which contains upa- (up close to, alongside) + √pat (to fall). The spatial sense 'approached, reached' becomes the relational sense in the compound: 'accompanied by breath'.
• - — ending · case/number
  Accusative plural, nominative plural, or locative singular ending, depending on context and gender agreement.

Analysis. pāṇu + peta: 'breath-approached', a bahuvrihi compound. pāṇu is the stem of pāṇa (breath, life); peta is the past participle of petati (to approach, to fall). The compound means 'approached by breath' or 'kept company by breath', hence 'lasting as long as breath lasts', i.e. lifelong or until death.

Etymology. pāṇu from pāṇa (breath, life; Sanskrit prāṇa, from √prā 'to fill, breathe'), related to Greek pneúō and English pneuma. The prefix upa- (up close to, alongside) is contracted within the verbal stem peta; petati contains upa + √pat 'to fall', giving 'fall toward, approach'.

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

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