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petā

peta

masc nom pl of peta (pp); fem nom sg of peta (pp); fem nom pl of peta (pp); nt nom pl of peta (pp); …

1. departed; deceased; dead; lit. gone forward
2. departed; deceased; dead; lit. gone forward
3. afflicted spirit, hungry ghost; lit. gone forward

Built from

• pa — prefix · forward, forth
  Intensifying prefix marking motion stepped ahead and away. Concrete sense of 'forth' becomes the abstract sense 'gone'.
• √i/ita — root · go
  Indo-European root *ei- 'to go'; related to Latin 'ire', English 'exit'. Here in the past participle form -(i)ta marking completion.
• -ta — ending · past participle
  Marks the action as completed or in a state; here 'gone forward' → 'departed, one who has gone'.

Etymology. Past participle of √pe (pa-) 'to go forward, depart'; related to Sanskrit pra-ita 'gone forth', with pra- (Pali pa-) 'forward, forth' + √i 'go'. The concrete image is motion stepped forward and away; hence 'gone' and 'departed'. Cognate with English 'ford' (a going-across) and Latin 'portus' (passage). In Buddhist usage, peta denotes a being reborn in the preta-gati through past karma, typically depicted as having an ethereal or ghostly form.

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

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