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svāgataṁ

svāgata

accusative singular masculine of svāgata (adjective); neuter nominative singular used as greeting formula

1. welcome
2. well-come, favourably arrived
3. auspicious arrival

Built from

• su — prefix · well, good
  The prefix su- carries the concrete sense of fitness and ease; cognate with Greek eu- (as in eulogy, meaning good speech).
• ā — prefix · toward, up to
  The prefix ā- reverses the direction of motion verbs; here it turns √gam from 'go away' into 'come toward', approach.
• gam — root · go, come
  The root √gam means to go or move; with ā- it becomes 'come' or 'arrive'.
• ta — ending · past participle
  The suffix -ta marks the past participle, making a verbal adjective: 'having come', 'arrived'.

Analysis. su- (well, good) + ā- (toward) + √gam (go) + -ta (past participle); literally 'well-come', one who has arrived in good circumstances

Etymology. su- (well; cognate with Greek eu- in eulogy) + ā-gata (come toward; ā reverses √gam to mean approach rather than departure); standard Sanskrit-Pali form for 'welcome'

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

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