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pecca

indeclinable (adverb)

1. after death; lit. going forward

Built from

• pe — root · by that, by this
  Instrumental singular of the demonstrative base, referring to motion or transition; related to Sanskrit tad and the pronoun base visible in etad 'this'.
• cca — ending · going, ablative marker
  Postposition derived from √gam 'go', marking the direction or source of motion. In sandhi, the final -a of pe is lost before cca, yielding pecca.

Analysis. pe + cca: pe is the instrumental singular of the pronoun/demonstrative meaning 'by this/that'; cca is the ablative marker. Together: 'by going [from this life]' > 'after death'. The form shows sandhi loss of final -a before cca.

Etymology. From pe (instrumental of the demonstrative base, related to Sanskrit tad 'that') + the postposition cca (from √gam 'go', marking direction or origin). The literal sense 'by going forth' became the temporal marker 'after, afterwards'; cognate with English 'go', Latin ire 'to go', Sanskrit gacchati. The adverbial compound crystallized early in Pali to denote the realm after death.

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

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