◇ · ✦
Compound Unpacker · समासः
✦ · ◇
Two words, one word, four meanings
Sanskrit packs whole phrases into single words. The parts sit there plainly; what you have to recover is the relation between them — and the four families here cover nearly everything you will read at this level.
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What holds them together?
Opened out · विग्रहः
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Unpacked {{ doneCount }} of fourteen · relation right first try {{ firstTry }} times
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The grammarians count more finely. Karmadhāraya sits inside tatpuruṣa, beside dvigu, where a number stands in front (त्रिलोकी, the three worlds); avyayībhāva, with an indeclinable in front (यथाशक्ति, as far as one can), stands apart; and tatpuruṣa itself splits six ways by which case dissolved — Samāsa Forge teaches those. The four here are the families you will meet most.
✦ Wonder · a world in one word
Three of the four families describe the thing they name. The fourth does something stranger: it describes something that is not in the word at all, and hands you a name for it.
पीताम्बरः
pītāmbaraḥ · yellow + garment
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Now name someone yourself
Pick a quality and a part. Sanskrit will hand you back a person.
Quality
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Every Sanskrit god-name you know is one of these. The language does not describe a person and then name them — the description is the name, and it fits in one breath.
When a long word stops you in a verse, look for the seam first, the relation second. ॐ