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suññāgārāni

suññāgāra

nt nom pl of suññāgāra (noun); nt acc pl of suññāgāra (noun); nt voc pl of suññāgāra (noun)

1. empty dwelling; uninhabited place
2. empty body; physical home devoid of a self; lit. empty house

Built from

• su — prefix · well, good
  A marking of completeness or desirability; here emphasizes that emptiness is a positive, cultivated state.
• ñña — ending · adjective marker
  Forms adjectives expressing states or qualities; suñña means 'empty' or 'hollow'.
• gāra — root · house, dwelling
  From √gṛ (to house, dwell); cognate with Latin grex (flock, group dwelling together) and German Garten (garden, enclosed space).

Analysis. suñña (empty, hollow) + gāra (house, dwelling); a dwelling that is empty — both literally (an uninhabited dwelling) and metaphorically (the body as a house without a permanent self or essence).

Etymology. suñña from su- (well, good) + -ñña (a suffix marking adjectives of state or quality); originally "well-emptied" or "made empty". The prefix su- here paradoxically marks the completeness of emptiness itself. gāra from √gṛ (to house, dwell), cognate with Latin gr- (as in grex, a home flock) and German Garten (garden, an enclosed dwelling-space). The compound became especially important in Buddhist meditation contexts to denote both physical spaces for practice and the philosophical emptiness (suññatā) central to the path.

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

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