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sannipatitāni

sannipatita

nt nom pl of sannipatita (pp); nt acc pl of sannipatita (pp); nt voc pl of sannipatita (pp)

1. gathered together; assembled; lit. fallen down together
2. come together (sexually); lit. fallen down together

Built from

• saṁ — prefix · together
  Brings things into one. The concrete sense of bundling multiple items into a unity underlies the abstract meaning of assembly or collectedness.
• ni — prefix · down, into
  Downward and inward direction. Cognate with English 'nether' and German 'nieder'; reinforces the sense of falling into a common place.
• pat — root · fall, lie open
  √pat means 'to fall' or 'to open by falling', cognate with Latin 'patere' 'to lie open' and English 'patent'. The spatial sense of opening through descent carries the abstract sense of being revealed or assembled.
• ita — ending · past participle
  The perfect passive participle marks the word as describing a completed action in the passive voice, showing that the gathering has already taken place.

Analysis. saṁ + ni + √pat (perfect passive participle -ita): things that have fallen together downward, hence assembled or gathered.

Etymology. The root √pat means 'to fall' (cognate with English 'patent', Latin 'patere' 'to lie open', the sense being things that have opened by falling). The prefix saṁ 'together' combines with ni 'down, into' to form the sense of falling into one place collectively. In Buddhist usage, often describes the assembly of monks or the coming together of conditions in dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda).

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

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