‹ Back to the text

tenupasaṅkamiṁsu

upasaṅkamati

3rd person plural aorist indicative; from tenupasaṅkamiṁsu (tena + upasaṅkamisu), where tena is the instrumental of ta ('that'), and upasaṅkamisu is the aorist form of upasaṅkamati

1. approached
2. drew near to
3. went up to

Built from

• upa — prefix · up close to, near
  Approach and closeness in both spatial and temporal senses; like English up and Greek hypo-.
• saṅ — prefix · together, with
  Gathering into one place or action; like English same and Latin con-.
• kam — root · go, come
  Motion toward or away; cognate with Latin venire and English come.
• i — stem · thematic
  Connects the root to the ending in present and aorist forms.
• su — ending · 3rd plural aorist
  Marks third-person plural action in the simple past (aorist), often seen in narrative Pali texts.

Analysis. upa + saṅ + kam; tena is instrumental 'by that' or 'with that', preceding the verb in a common Pali construction. The root √kam means 'go' or 'come', prefixed with upa- ('up close to, near') and saṅ- ('together'), giving the sense of approaching or drawing near.

Etymology. √kam (go, come) is cognate with Latin venire and English come. The prefix upa- (up close to, near) comes from the same root as English 'up' and Greek hypo-. The prefix saṅ- (together, with) is cognate with English 'same' and Latin con-.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version