‹ Back to the text

paṭibhaṁsu

paṭibhati

3rd person plural aorist indicative of paṭibhati

1. appeared
2. seemed
3. occurred to
4. presented itself

Built from

• paṭi — prefix · back, against
  Directional prefix marking appearance turned back toward the observer or mind; reverses the outward sense of shining.
• bhā — root · shine, appear
  Cognate with English 'bright'. The root carries the image of light manifesting or radiating.
• su — ending · 3rd plural aorist
  Marks the third person plural in past tense, indicating multiple agents to whom something appeared or came to mind.

Analysis. paṭi- (back, against, in return) + √bhā (shine, appear). The prefix paṭi- reverses or turns the appearance back toward the mind—what shines forth, comes to mind.

Etymology. √bhā (to shine, appear) is cognate with English 'bright' and Latin 'flāre' (to shine), and Sanskrit bhāti. The prefix paṭi- (back, against) compounds the root to mean appearance turned inward, as if reflected back to consciousness.

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

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