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pavattinī

fem nom sg of pavattinī (noun); fem nom pl of pavattinī (noun); fem acc pl of pavattinī (noun); fem voc sg of pavattinī (noun); …

1. pavattī (adj): going on; occurring; continuing; flowing; manifesting; lit. proceeding forward
2. pavattinī (fem): (vinaya) female preceptor; preceptress; lit. proceeding forward

Built from

• pa — prefix · forward; forth
  Intensifying prefix carrying spatial sense of stepping ahead or proceeding outward, used here to mark active agency.
• vat — root · go; move; turn
  Related to Sanskrit √vṛt 'turn, proceed'. No clear European cognate, but the sense of motion and change is central to the root's meaning across Indo-Aryan.
• inī — ending · feminine agent
  Feminine suffix marking a female person who does or embodies the action of the root; parallels -īna in Latin and -ινη in Greek nominal formations.

Analysis. pa- (prefix: forward, forth) + √vat (go, move) + -inī (feminine agent suffix). The word is built on pavatti (proceeding, going forward), with the feminine suffix -inī marking a female agent or role.

Etymology. From pa- (forward, forth) + √vat (related to Sanskrit √vṛt 'turn, move', cognate with English 'wort' in 'mugwort', the plant that grows or turns upward). The prefix pa- carries the sense of stepping forth into a role or function, hence 'one who goes forward' becomes 'one who leads' or 'preceptor'. The feminine -inī suffix derives from the same root as Latin -īna and Greek -ινη, marking female nouns of agency.

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

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