Languages of India and abroad

Pali-English dictionary

Source: Sutta: The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary

Mokkhacika, (m. or °ā f.) (see on attempt at etym. Morris in J. P. T. S. 1885, 49 who takes mokkha as fr. muc “tumbling” & cika=“turning” fr. cak=cik. The word remains obscure, it must be a dialectical expression, distorted by popular analogy & taken perhaps from a designation of a place where these feats or toys had their origin. More probable than Morris’etym. is an analysis of the word (if it is Aryan) as mokkha= mokkha², in meaning “head, top, ” so that it may mean “head over, ” top-first” & we have to separate *mokkhac-ika the °ika representing °iya “in the manner of, like” & —ac being the adv. of direction as contained in Sk. prāñc=pra-añc. ) tumbling, turning somersaults, an acrobatic feat; in list of forbidden amusements at D. I, 6 (cp. DA. I, 86; samparivattaka-kīḷanaṃ, i.e. playing with something that rolls along, continuously turning? The foll. sentence however seems to imply turning head over heels: “ākāse vā daṇḍaṃ gahetvā bhūmiyaṃ vā sīsaṃ ṭhapetvā heṭṭh-upariya (so read!) —bhāvena parivattana-kīḷanaṃ”; i.e. trapeze-performing. Cp. Dial. I. 10 & Vin. Texts II. 184). The list re-occurs at Vin. II, 10 (°āya: f. ! kīḷanti); III, 180; M. I, 266≈and A. V, 203 (with important v. l. mokkhaṭika, which would imply mokkha & ending tiya, and not °cika at all. The Cy. on this passage explains as: daṇḍakaṃ gahetvā heṭṭh-uppariya (sic. as DA. I, 86; correct to upariya?) —bhāvena parivattana-kīḷanaṃ). The word is found also at Vin. I, 275, where the boy of a Seṭṭhi in Bārāṇasī contracts injuries to his intestines by “mokkhacikāya kīḷanto, ” playing (with a) m.—According to its use with kīḷati & in Instr. mokkhacikena (Nd² 219) may be either a sort of game or an instrument (toy), with which children play. (Page 541)

context information

Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Relevant text

No search results for Mokkhacika; (plurals include: Mokkhacikas) in any book or story.