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pessa

masc voc sg of pessa (noun)

1. servant; messenger; runner; lit. to be sent
2. name of a layman; lit. to be sent

Built from

• pe — root · send
  The root √pi (send) appears in past participle form pe-. Concrete image: dispatch, sending someone forth on a task.
• ssa — ending · agent noun / masculine singular
  The suffix -ta (past participle) contracted with nominalization; -ssa marks the vocative singular masculine, addressing the servant directly.

Etymology. From *pe-ta, past participle of √pi (to send). The agent noun shifted from "one sent" (passive sense) to "one who is sent on errands" (servant, messenger). Cognate with Latin mittere "to send" (via *smi-t-) and Greek πέμπω (pémpō) "to send", both from the same Indo-European root *pem- or *smi-.

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

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