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nāgacchati

pr 3rd sg of nāgacchati (verb)

1. does not arrive (at); does not return (to); lit. does not come here

Built from

• na — prefix · not, negation
  Plain negation. English un-, Greek a(n)-.
• ā — prefix · toward (the speaker), up to
  Reverses motion verbs: √gam "go" becomes "come toward". Sanskrit ā; no common European cognate.
• gam — root · go, come
  Cognate with English "come", Latin "venio", Sanskrit gacchati. The root sense is motion; ā- reverses it to approach.
• ati — ending · 3rd sg present
  Active voice present tense third person singular. Marks ongoing action in present time.

Analysis. na + āgacchati: negation of the present tense form āgacchati (comes, arrives). The prefix ā- reverses the motion of √gam (go), so āgacchati means "comes toward the speaker"; the negation na- (does not) makes nāgacchati "does not come, does not arrive".

Etymology. From na (not) + ā-√gam (to come, arrive). √Gam is cognate with English "come" and Latin "venio". The prefix ā- literally means "toward" and reverses the sense of √gam from "go away" to "come toward"; in negation, nāgacchati expresses the absence of arrival or return.

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

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