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paññāsampi

paññāsa

masculine noun, nominative singular + enclitic api

1. paññāsa (masc): group of fifty (discourses)
2. paññāsā (card): fifty (50)

Built from

• paññāsa — stem · fifty; group of fifty discourses
  A collective or ordinal numeral, likely descended from Sanskrit pañcāśat via regular phonological development. Used substantively in the canon to denote divisions of the scriptures.
• m — ending · nominative singular masculine
  The -m is the nominative singular masculine ending in Pali, here assimilating before the following enclitic.
• api — prefix · even, also, too
  An enclitic particle that attaches to the preceding word and adds emphasis or the sense 'also' or 'even'. It does not change the grammatical case of what precedes it.

Analysis. paññāsaṃ (nominative masculine) + api (enclitic 'even, also'). The enclitic api attaches to the preceding word, here paññāsa 'fifty', giving the sense 'fifty even' or 'fifty itself'.

Etymology. paññāsa is of uncertain origin but appears related to Sanskrit pañcāśat 'fifty' (from pañca 'five' + the ordinal suffix -āśat). The Pali form shows regular sound changes from the Sanskrit etymon. The number fifty held canonical significance: in the Pali canon, the Suttantapiṭaka's Dīghanikāya and Saṃyuttanikāya are both organized into groups of fifty discourses (paññāsā), establishing a traditional structural unit.

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

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