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upanāho

upanāha

masc nom sg of upanāha (noun)

1. resentment; bearing a grudge; harbouring enmity; rancour; lit. binding onto

Built from

• upa — prefix · up close, alongside
  Spatial proximity and approach; the grudge is held close to oneself, not at distance.
• nāh — root · bind, tie
  From √nah; Sanskrit nadhyati (binds). The act of binding expresses how resentment is held fast and nursed.
• a — ending · nominative singular
  Masculine -a suffix marks the nominative singular case.

Analysis. upa- (up close, alongside) + nāha (binding, from √nah "bind, tie"); literally "binding onto (oneself)", the image of nursing a grievance by holding it close.

Etymology. From upa- (approach, proximity) + nāha (binding). The spatial concrete sense is preserved: just as one binds something to oneself physically, resentment is a mental binding, a grudge held close. Related to √nah (tie, bind), which appears in nāha (rope, bond) and Sanskrit nadhyati (binds). The prefix upa- conveys the intimacy and nearness of the grudge—it is not distant anger but something kept alongside and bound to the self.

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

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