‹ Back to the text

ujuṁ

ujjuka

accusative singular masculine of ujjuka (adjective); or adverbial accusative

1. straight
2. upright
3. direct
4. honest

Built from

• ujj — root · stretch, straighten
  From IE *h₂reǵ-, also found in Latin rectus. The doubled -jj- indicates an intensified or iterative sense within Pali phonology.
• uka — ending · adjective suffix
  Forms adjectives from verbal roots; here creating 'the one that is/goes straight', or 'straightened'.

Analysis. A simple adjective without compound structure. The form ujuṁ is the accusative singular masculine (with internal sandhi of -ka > -ṁ before a following consonant in many contexts, though here it represents the straightforward accusative ending -ṁ).

Etymology. From Indo-European *h₂reǵ- 'to stretch, straighten' (cognate with Latin rectus 'straight', English right). The Pali root *rejj- 'stretch, straighten' underlies ujjuka. The word is semantically and morphologically transparent: 'made straight' or 'the straight one'.

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

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