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yāni

ya

nt nom pl of ya (pron); nt acc pl of ya (pron); masc voc sg of yānī (noun)

1. ya (pron): whoever; whatever; whichever
2. yāni (pron): whichever (things)
3. yānī (masc): who drives in a carriage

Built from

• yā — root · drive, go
  Root meaning 'to drive or move a vehicle'. Cognate with Sanskrit yāti, Latin iaciō (via *yek-).
• -nī — ending · agent, one who
  Nominalization suffix forming agent nouns ('one who drives'). In the masculine singular vocative, this becomes -ī.

Analysis. yānī: yā- + -nī, 'one who drives' (agent noun from yā-, to drive, with nominative suffix -nī becoming -ī in masculine singular vocative).

Etymology. From Indo-European *yek- (to drive, move). Sanskrit cognate: yāti 'goes, drives'. The root appears in Latin -ī- (found in various verbal stems) and is related conceptually to the motion family of *ei- 'go'. The agent noun yānī ('charioteer, driver') is formed with the suffix -nī-, a common Pali nominalization.

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

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