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tathāgato

tathāgata

masc nom sg of tathāgata (noun)

1. Such Become; realized; being in such a state; arrived at the truth; epithet of the Buddha

Built from

• tathā — stem · thus, in such manner
  Adverb from demonstrative basis ta- ('that'). Indicates the characteristic or method—here, the way of a Buddha.
• ā — prefix · toward, up to
  Spatial prefix meaning approach and arrival; cognate with Sanskrit ā. Here it reverses the verb gam ('go') to show coming toward a destination or achieving a state.
• gat — root · go
  Root √gam 'go, move'; cognate with English 'come', German 'gehen'. The past participle stem is gat-.
• a — ending · past participle masculine nominative singular
  Masculine nominative singular ending of the past participle, marking the arrived, perfected Buddha as a single realized being.

Analysis. tathā + āgata: 'thus' + 'come/gone' (past participle of āgacchati). The compound epithet describes the Buddha as one who has come in the same way as all previous Buddhas, or arrived at the truth in just that manner.

Etymology. From tathā 'in such manner, thus' (from ta- 'that', cf. Sanskrit tathā, related to demonstrative roots) + āgata 'come, arrived' (ā- 'toward' + √gam 'go', cf. Sanskrit āgata, English cognates of √gam in 'come'). The spatial sense of ā- (movement toward the speaker, up to a destination) is absorbed into the meaning of arrival and realization.

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

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