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pañcupādānakkhandhāti
pañcupādānakkhandhā
nominative plural masculine; iti marks quotation or utterance
- five heaps that are clung to; five grasping groups
Built from
- pañca — root · five
Numeral from PIE *pénkwe, cognate with Greek pénte, Latin quinque, English five. The five are form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.
- upa — prefix · up close, near
Marks approach and proximity; here means grasping or taking hold. Cognates: Greek hypo-, Latin sub-, English up.
- ā — prefix · toward
Reverses or completes motion toward the speaker; combines with √dhā to mean 'taking up.' Cognate: Sanskrit ā.
- dh — root · place, put
Root of dhamma, dhātu; cognate with Sanskrit dhā and Greek títhēmi 'I place.' Concretely: placing fuel into fire.
- ana — ending · accusative masculine plural
In the compound, -āna appears as part of upādāna 'the taking up'; the accusative-like form marks what is grasped.
- khand — root · heap, bundle, scatter
From √skandh 'to scatter, bundle.' Cognate with Sanskrit skandha. The five khandhā are the five loosely-bundled constituents of the person.
- ā — ending · nominative plural masculine
Marks the nominative plural here; refers to the heaps themselves as the subject of clinging.
- iti — ending · thus, quotative marker
Marks the end of reported speech or a doctrinal term being cited. Does not inflect; often translated 'called' or left untranslated in English.
Analysis. pañca + upādāna + khandhā + iti: pañca 'five' (numeral) + upādāna 'clinging, grasping' (upa 'up close' + ā 'toward' + √dhā 'placing') + khandhā 'heaps, aggregates' (√skandh 'to scatter, bundle') + iti 'thus, marking speech'.
Etymology. pañca: from PIE *pénkwe 'five', cognate with Greek pénte, Latin quinque, English five. upādāna: upa- (near, grasping close) + ā- (toward) + √dhā 'place': the image is fuel taken up close to fire. khandhā: √skandh 'to scatter into bundles'; cognate with Sanskrit skandha.