upādānanti

upādāna

nt (nom. sg. + iti particle)

fuel (for fire); lit. taking near
grasping; clinging; acquiring; appropriating; taking possession; identifying; lit. taking near
with fuel; having fuel; lit. taking near

Built from

upa — prefix · up close, near
Spatial proximity and approach. Cognates: Greek hypo-, Latin sub-, English up.
ā — prefix · toward, until
Reversal of motion; brings the object toward the agent. Cognates: Sanskrit ā; directional particle in Indo-European.
dhā — root · place, put, hold
Sanskrit dhā-, Latin facere (via *dha-); the concrete image is physical placement, extended to mental holding and grasping.
na — ending · abstract noun (neuter)
Nominalizing suffix forming the abstract noun stem; -nt- appears before consonantal endings, -n- before vocalic (here -aṃ, nom. sg.).
ṃ — ending · nominative singular
Neuter nominative ending before vowel-initial particle iti; pronounced as nasal (anusvāra).
iti — ending · thus, quotation particle
Marks reported speech or the end of a quotation; here simply binds the nominative noun to the following clause.

Analysis. upādānaṃ + iti: nominative singular of upādāna + the quotation particle iti ('thus', 'saying'); the -ṃ is the nominative ending before a vowel-initial particle, sandhi-assimilated.

Etymology. upa- (up close, near, alongside—concrete spatial approach) + ā- (toward, reversing motion) + √dhā (to place, put, hold). The compound upa + ā + dhā literally depicts 'placing near' or 'taking up close'; in the context of fire, fuel is what is taken up close to feed the flame; in psychology, clinging and grasping arise from taking hold of sense-experience and conceptual formations. The prefix pair reflects a motion-toward-and-up movement: upa- (English up, Latin sub-) and ā- together convey the gathering and appropriation central to the Buddhist doctrine of the Four Fetters (upādānakkhandhā).

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

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