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vacanaṁ

vacana

noun (neuter), accusative singular; often used in compounds and fixed phrases

1. speech, utterance
2. word, words
3. doctrine, teaching

Built from

• vac — root · speak, utter
  Indo-European *wekw-; cognate with Latin vox (voice), English voice, German wach. The root captures the physical act of utterance.
• -ana — ending · action noun suffix
  Forms abstract nouns from verbal roots, here 'the action/product of speaking'. In the accusative singular, -ana becomes -anaṁ, marking the direct object or governed complement in the sentence.

Analysis. The accusative form vacanaṁ is the inflected surface form of the lemma vacana (neuter noun). No further compositional analysis needed.

Etymology. From √vac 'speak' (Sanskrit vacana, Latin vox 'voice', English voice, German Wach from Indo-European *wekw-). The suffix -ana forms agent/action nouns. The root imagery is the physical act of utterance; the word extends to any speech-act, teaching, or authoritative statement.

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

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