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pakkhassa

pakkha

masc dat sg of pakkha (adj); nt dat sg of pakkha (adj); masc gen sg of pakkha (adj); nt gen sg of pakkha (adj); …

1. associated with; connected to; siding with; lit. on the side of
2. side; flank
3. wing
4. cripple; lame
5. side; party; group; faction
6. lunar phase; fortnight; half-month
7. name of an arahant monk
8. class; category; set; group; lit. side

Built from

• pakkh- — root · wing, side, party
  From PIE *pek- 'to cut, pluck', originally referring to feathers/wings as parts plucked or cut off; extended to mean 'side' and metaphorically 'faction, group'.
• -a — ending · nominative/accusative stem marker
  Masculine and neuter adjective/noun stem-former in Pali, matching Sanskrit -a; this form allows the following case inflections.
• -ssa — ending · genitive/dative singular
  Combined genitive-dative ending for masculine and neuter singular nouns; marks possession or indirect object in this context.

Etymology. From Proto-Indo-European *pek- 'to pluck, cut, divide' (also 'wing', 'feather'). Cognate with Sanskrit pakṣa 'wing, side, party', Latin penna 'feather' (from *pek-sna-), and English feather. The word's development from concrete 'wing' to abstract 'side, party' parallels the metaphorical extension seen across Indo-European languages: a wing is literally one side of a bird, hence 'side' of a body or group, and 'faction' is a group taking one side.

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

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