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purāṇañca

purāṇa

adjective; nominative singular neuter with coordinating particle ca

1. of old; ancient
2. old; used; worn out
3. past; old times; old days
4. Purāṇas; class of Sanskrit literature; lit. ancient
5. stale; not fresh
6. previous; former; old
7. name of one of king Pasenadi's architects

Built from

• purāṇa — root · old; ancient
  From Indo-European *per- 'far, forward, through', hence 'gone far back in time', ancient. Related to Sanskrit purā 'formerly', and distantly to English 'far'.
• ca — ending · and; also
  Coordinating particle joining two items or phrases paratactically. Here it attaches purāṇa to a following noun or list, 'ancient and [the next item]'.

Analysis. purāṇaṃ + ca: purāṇa (ancient) joined by the coordinating particle ca (and), yielding 'ancient and …' or 'the ancient [things]', typical of catalogue or paired descriptions in the texts.

Etymology. Sanskrit purāṇa, from the root *per- (forward, through; cf. Latin pera 'pouch', porro 'forward') or from *per- in the sense 'far away in time'; cognate with Avestan paeresaya 'former'. The word entered Sanskrit literature terminology as a formal genre-name, but in Pali the adjective retains its primary sense of age and obsolescence.

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

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