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vitakkā

vitakka

masc nom pl of vitakka (noun); masc instr sg of vitakka (noun); masc abl sg of vitakka (noun); masc voc sg of vitakka (noun); …

1. thought; reflection; pondering
2. (abhi) application of mind; initial application of attention; (comm) mounting
3. thought; reflection; pondering

Built from

• vi — prefix · apart, asunder
  Marks the turning of attention in different directions; works like Latin dis-.
• takka — root · reasoning, logic
  From √takk-, 'to grasp or handle mentally'; cognate with Latin tangō 'touch, handle', reflecting the imagery of the mind grasping and turning over ideas.

Etymology. vi- 'apart, asunder' + takka 'reasoning, logic' (√takk-); the root shares Indo-European ancestry with Latin tangō 'touch, handle' (via the sense 'grasping mentally'), reflecting the concrete image of thought as mind turning over and manipulating ideas in different directions. The prefix vi- marks the activity as analytic, breaking apart the object of thought.

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

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