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sallekhāya

sallekha

masc dat sg of sallekha (noun)

1. effacing; expunging; erasing; wiping out; slowly grinding away; lit. scratching together
2. austere living; self-mortification; asceticism; lit. scratching together

Built from

• sam — prefix · together, completely
  Things brought into one; here, the combined effect of ascetic practices grinding away defilements.
• lekh — root · scratch, scrape, write
  Concrete image of scraping or etching a surface; in this word, the wearing away of moral obstacles through discipline.
• a — ending · nominalization
  Masculine noun-forming suffix, creating an abstract noun from the verbal root.

Analysis. sam + lekhati: 'scratching together', hence the grinding away of defilements through ascetic practice.

Etymology. sam- (together, completely) + √likh (to scratch, scrape, write). The concrete image is of scraping or scratching things together into a pile; applied to austere discipline that wears away hindrances. Related to English 'lick' (to lap, to graze a surface) and Sanskrit likha (scratched, written).

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

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