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papañcasaṅkhāya

papañcasaṅkhā

fem instr sg of papañcasaṅkhā (noun); fem dat sg of papañcasaṅkhā (noun); fem abl sg of papañcasaṅkhā (noun); fem gen sg of papañcasaṅkhā (noun); …

1. concepts due to proliferation

Built from

• pa — prefix · forth, forward
  Directional prefix signaling extension and proliferation outward.
• pac — root · spread, unfold
  Root sense of spreading; papañca is the unfolding of mental constructs beyond bare sensation.
• saṁ — prefix · together, with
  Brings elements into one conceptual unity.
• khyā — root · see, call, designate
  Root of 'knowing' and 'naming'; saṅkhā is a mental construct or concept.

Analysis. papañca (proliferation) + saṅkhā (concept, designation); compound formed as 'concepts arising from mental proliferation.' The word appears in key suttas like MN 18 where the Buddha teaches the cessation of papañca through the abandonment of verbal formations (saṅkhāra).

Etymology. papañca from pa- (forward, forth) + √pac (spread, unfold); literally 'spreading forth, proliferation.' saṅkhā from sam- (together) + √khyā (see, call); 'concept, designation.' The compound idiomatically denotes the mental elaborations and discursive proliferations (papañcita) that obscure direct perception in Buddhist phenomenology.

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

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