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vedānaṁ

vedanā

accusative plural feminine of vedanā

1. feeling, sensation
2. emotion, affective tone
3. the second aggregate (in the doctrine of the five aggregates)

Built from

• ved — root · know, feel
  The root √vid encodes the primordial act of sense-perception as direct knowing; cognate with Latin vidēre and English wit.
• anā — ending · feminine noun
  This suffix forms abstract feminine nouns from verbal roots; vedanā as an abstract noun reifies the act of feeling into a doctrine aggregate.
• aṁ — ending · accusative plural
  Marks vedanā as the plural object in this phrase, often in the context of the three types of feeling (pleasant, painful, neutral).

Analysis. vedanā is a root noun from √vid 'to know, feel'; the accusative plural -aṁ marks the object of a transitive verb or preposition. In the Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda), vedanā designates the affective quality (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral) that arises with sense contact and conditions craving.

Etymology. From √vid 'to know, perceive, feel' (Sanskrit veda-, vitti-), cognate with English 'wit' (knowledge), Latin 'vidēre' (see), and German 'wissen' (know). The semantic drift from 'knowing' to 'feeling' reflects the somatic knowledge of sensation.

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

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