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sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā

masc nom pl of sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā (noun); masc voc pl of sokaparidevadukkhadomanassupāyāsā (noun)

1. grief, wailing, pain, suffering and trouble

Built from

• soka — root · grief
  From √śuc. Grief as a mental response to loss; deeply rooted in the emotional texture of saṁsāra.
• paridevaṁ — stem · wailing, lamentation
  pari- (around) + √dev (bewail): wailing that goes all around, cries of anguish. Complements soka with vocalization.
• dukkhaṁ — stem · pain, suffering
  du- (hard, bad) + kha (space): the condition of being hard to bear or confined. Core canonical term for the First Noble Truth.
• domanaṁ — stem · mental anguish, dejection
  From √dam (to subdue, tame): the mind subdued or oppressed by sorrow. Emphasizes the mental/emotional dimension.
• upāyāsaṁ — stem · distress, despair
  upa- (up against, close-up) + √as (to throw): distress as being thrown hard at or against oneself, despair. Completes the spectrum of suffering.

Analysis. A compound of five nouns in apposition, each nominative plural, standing together as a unified doctrinal term for the suite of mental afflictions: soka (grief) + paridevaṁ (wailing, lamentation) + dukkhaṁ (pain, suffering) + domanaṁ (mental anguish, dejection) + upāyāsaṁ (distress, despair). The series appears throughout the Canon as a standard enumeration of suffering's affective dimensions, particularly in descriptions of hell-states and the anguish of saṁsāra.

Etymology. soka: from √śuc (Sanskrit śocati 'grieves', Greek κάχυ 'sad'). paridevaṁ: from pari- (around) + √dev (to bewail), giving 'wailing all around'. dukkhaṁ: du(r)- (bad, hard) + kha (space, room), giving 'hard to bear' or 'cramped' — the prefix du- intensifies the root sense of constraint. domanaṁ: from √dam (to tame, subdue), giving 'mental subduing' or dejection. upāyāsaṁ: from upa- (close-up, up against) + √as (to throw), giving 'throwing oneself at' or despair — a vivid image of distress as being hurled against oneself.

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

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