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sabbakāyapaṭisaṁvedī

nominative singular masculine, compound epithet; present participle (vedī) in attributive function

1. feeling/experiencing throughout the body
2. one who experiences sensations in the whole body (epithet of the Buddha)

Built from

• sabba — stem · all, whole
  Adjective modifying kāya; emphasizes totality and completeness.
• kāya — stem · body
  Accusative stem in compound; refers to the physical body as the locus of sensation.
• paṭi — prefix · back, against
  Suggests sensations directed back inward or awareness turned upon sensation itself; Greek proti, Latin contra.
• sam — prefix · together, completely
  Intensifies the sense of unified, simultaneous perception; Latin con-, Greek homo-.
• ved — root · feel, perceive
  Related to Latin vēdere (see) and English wit; the root of Vedas (knowledge).
• ī — ending · agent, one who
  Participle suffix forming an agent noun; marks the person as characterized by the action of experiencing.

Analysis. sabbakāya (the whole body, sabba + kāya) + paṭisaṁvedī (experiencing in return, paṭi + saṁ + ved + ī). The compound describes one who is conscious of bodily sensations completely and simultaneously, a quality ascribed to the Buddha and advanced ascetics in states of heightened mindfulness.

Etymology. Builds on ved- (to feel, perceive), cognate with Latin vēdere (to see) and English wit (to know); saṁ intensifies the sensation, paṭi turns it back (inward), and sabba (all) extends it to the whole body. The phrase appears in the Aṅguttara Nikāya as a defining characteristic of the Buddha's perception.

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

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