muñcati

I. Forms

The 2 bases muñc˚ & mucc˚; are differentiated in such a way, that muñc˚; is the active base, and mucc˚; the passive. There are however cases where the active forms (muñc˚) are used for the passive ones (mucc˚), which may be due simply to a misspelling ñc & cc being very similar

  1. Active.
    pres muñcati Ja.i.375; Ja.iv.272; Ja.v.453; Vv.64#18;
    pot muñcetha Dhp.389;
    imper muñca Dhp.348;
    ppr muñcanto Snp.791
    aor muñci Ja.v.289; Mhvs.19, Mhvs.44; pl. muñciṃsu Ja.iv.142
    ger muñciya Mhvs.25, Mhvs.67; mutvā Ja.i.375; & muñcitvā ibid.; Pv-a.43;
    inf muñcituṃ DN.i.96
    caus 2 muñcāpeti DN.i.148
  2. Passive.
    pres muccati Snp.508
    ppr muccanto Ja.i.118;
    imper sg. muccassu Thig.2 pl. muccatha Dhp-a.ii.92;
    pot muñceyya Pv.ii.2#6 Pv-a.104; Dhp.127;
    fut muccissati Ja.i.434 (where also muñcissati in same sense); Dhp-a.i.105; Dhp-a.iii.242; Pv-a.53 Pv-a.105; also mokkhasi Vin.i.21 = SN.i.111; pl. mokkhanti Dhp.37;
    aor mucci(ṃsu) SN.iii.132; SN.iv.20; Ja.ii.66;
    inf muccituṃ Thag.253; Dhp-a.i.297
    caus moceti mocāpeti; (q.v.)
    pp mutta

II. Meanings

  1. to release, deliver (from = abl.), set free (opp. bandhati Snp.508 (sujjhati, m., bajjhati); SN.iii.132 (cittāni mucciṃsu their hearts were cleansed), Thig.2 (muccassu) Dhp.127 (pāpakammā, quoted at Pv-a.104); Pv.ii.2#6 Pv-a.53 (niray’ ûpapattito muccissati), Pv-a.105; Dhp-a.i.297 (dukkhā muccitu-kāma desirous of being delivered from unpleasantness; variant reading muñc˚); Dhp-a.ii.92 (dukkhā).
  2. to send off, let loose, drop, give Ja.iv.272 (saraṃ an arrow); Vism.313 (dhenu vacchakassa khīra-dhāraṃ m.); Mhvs.25, Mhvs.63 (phalakaṃ).
  3. to let out of the yoke, to unharness, set free DN.i.148 (satta usabhasatāni muñcāpeti); Pv-a.43 (yoggāni muñcitvā).
  4. to let go, emit, send forth (light) Ja.v.289 (obhāsaṃ muñci); Mhvs.19, Mhvs.44 (rasmiyo).
  5. to send forth (sound); to utter, emit (words etc.) Ja.i.375 (vācaṃ) Vv.64#18 (mālā m. ghosaṃ = vissajjenti Vv-a.281).
  6. (from 4 & 5 in general) to undertake, to bestow, send forth, let loose on Dhp.389: “na brāhmaṇassa pahareyya nâssa muñcetha brāhmaṇo,” where Dhp-a.iv.148 supplements veran na muñcetha (i.e. kopaṃ na kareyya) In this case veraṃ muñcati would be the same as the usual veraṃ bandhati, thus opposite notions being used complementarily. The interpretation “give up (enmity) instead of “undertake” is possible from a mere grammatical point of view. L. v. Sohroeder (Worte der Wahrheil) trsls “noch stürzt der Priester auf den Feind”!
  7. to abandon, give up, leave behind Dhp.348 (muñca, viz. taṇhaṃ Dhp-a.iv.63); Ja.v.453 (peta-rāja-visayaṃ).
  8. An idiomatic (late) use of the ger. muñciya (with acc.) is in the sense of an adv. (or prep.), meaning “except, besides,” e.g. maṃ m Mhvs.25, Mhvs.67; imaṃ m. (besides this Mhvs.14, Mhvs.17)

■ Cp pa˚, paṭi˚, vi˚. Note. At Dhp.71 muccati stands for muccheti (= Sk. mūrchati) to become stiff, coagulate curdle; cp. Dhp-a.ii.67. Muncana & Muccana;

Vedic muñcati; muc, to release, loosen; with orig. meaning “strip off, get rid of,” hence also “glide as in Lith. mūkti to escape, Ags. smūgan to creep Ger. schmiegen to rub against. See further connections in Walde, Lat. Wtb., s. v. emungo. The Dhtp.376 explains by mocane, Dhtm.609 id.; 631: moce; 765 pamocane