‹ Back to the text

catunnañca

catu

cardinal number

1. catu (card): four (4)
2. catunnaṃ (card): for four; to four
3. catunnaṃ (card): of four

Built from

• catu — root · four
  From PIE *kʷetwr̥; cognates include Latin quattuor, English four, Sanskrit catvāri. The cardinal number is the core notion, with no prefix affecting it.
• nnaṃ — ending · genitive plural
  The -nna- infix plus -ṃ ending mark the genitive plural form of o-stem numbers, specifying "of four" in this context.
• ca — root · and
  An enclitic conjunction (indeclinable particle) meaning "and" or "also"; it attaches to the preceding word to coordinate.

Analysis. catunnaṃ (genitive plural of catu, "of four") + ca (conjunction, "and"); the phrase means "and of four" or "of the four".

Etymology. From Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥, the same root as Latin quattuor, English four, and Sanskrit catvāri. The -nnaṃ ending represents the genitive plural form of the o-stem declension. The concrete imagery of "four" persists in contexts like the Four Noble Truths (cattāri ariya-saccāni) and the four paths to power (iddhipāda).

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version