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paṭinivattitvā

absolutive (perfective participle) of paṭinivattati

1. having turned around and come back (from); lit. having proceeded back down

Built from

• paṭi — prefix · back, against
  Reverses or counters motion. Cognate: Greek proti 'toward, against'. Here it means turning back.
• ni — prefix · down, into
  Adds downward or inward sense. Cognate: English 'nether', German 'nieder'. Reinforces the sense of going down-and-back.
• vatt — root · turn, roll
  Sanskrit vṛt, Latin vertō 'turn', English 'vert'. The core image of rotation.
• i — stem · formant
  Thematic vowel marking the present stem class.
• tvā — ending · having done (absolutive)
  Perfective participle ending forming the absolutive mood; marks a completed action that precedes the main verb.

Analysis. paṭi- (back, against) + ni- (down, into) + vattati (turns, rolls). The prefix paṭi- reverses the motion, while ni- adds the sense of descent or reversion; together they depict turning back down the path one came.

Etymology. vattati is the present stem of √vṛt (Sanskrit vartate, Latin vertō 'turn', English 'vert' in revert/invert). The two prefixes are layered: paṭi- gives the return-motion sense (as in paṭiccasamuppāda), and ni- reinforces downward/inward reversal.

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

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