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paccakkhāya

paccakkha

fem instr sg of paccakkha (adj); masc dat sg of paccakkha (adj); fem dat sg of paccakkha (adj); nt dat sg of paccakkha (adj); …

1. paccakkha (adj): seen; witnessed
2. paccakkha (adj): visible; self-evident; clear; perceivable; lit. before the eyes
3. paccakkhāya (ger): giving up; disavowing; renouncing; rejecting; lit. speaking against

Built from

• paṭi — prefix · back; against
  Spatial prefix meaning 'turned back toward' or 'opposing', from Indo-European *poti- 'against'. Here it means the eye faces directly toward the object—hence 'evident to perception'.
• akkha — root · eye; see
  Root √akṣ 'to see'. Cognate with Sanskrit akṣi 'eye', Greek ὄψις 'sight', Latin oculus. The literal 'eye' yields the abstract 'perception, evidence', and in the gerund, 'to speak to the eye' or 'disavow openly'.

Analysis. paṭi + akkha: paṭi 'back, against' + akkha 'eye', hence 'against the eye', i.e. facing directly, manifest to perception. The gerund paccakkhāya 'renouncing' extends this to 'speaking against' or 'disavowing'.

Etymology. paṭi (prefix, 'back, against') + akkha (eye, from √akṣ 'see'). Akkha is cognate with Sanskrit akṣi, Greek ὄψις (ópsis 'sight'), Latin oculus; the concrete image of facing something eye-to-eye grounds the meanings 'evident' and 'to reject'.

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

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