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The Sanskrit root ac/anc/ank is very old and primarily had to do with a curve. The ank branch gave the words related to smoothly curved objects etc.: curved portion of a chariot, the female curve on which children sat (i.e. lap), body in general, flank or side, hook, curved lines, number signs, coefficient, numbers, acts in a drama, a drama itself, or a fight put up for show. From the sense of branding, numerical or otherwise, it developed the meaning a mark or a brand, or to mark or brand, ornament, stigma, misdeed or sin. The whole complex has obvious Greek and Latin cognates.

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ankita, the past particle, meant marked branded, counted, or calculated and as a name conveyed the sense of someone marked with an auspicious sign or foretelling.