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āyatanaṁ

āyatana

noun, accusative singular

1. sense faculty or sense organ
2. sphere of sense experience
3. basis or foundation
4. in Buddhist psychology, the twelve internal and external sense bases (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind and their objects)

Built from

• ā — prefix · toward, reversal
  Reversal or return marker; here conveys the sense of faculties toward which experience is drawn inward.
• yam — root · stretch, extend, yoke
  To stretch or extend. Cognate with English 'yoke' and Latin 'iugum'. Yields bases that extend or reach toward objects.
• ana — ending · nominalizing suffix
  Neuter noun suffix creating an abstract noun; -ṁ marks accusative singular case.

Analysis. ā (reversal prefix, 'toward') + √yam (stretch, extend), literally 'that which is stretched toward' — a place or faculty toward which experience is drawn.

Etymology. From √yam, 'stretch, extend' (cognate with English "yoke" and Latin "iugum" 'yoke', both from the same Indo-European root for joining or stretching). The prefix ā (toward the speaker, reversal) gives the sense of a faculty or sphere toward which cognition extends. In Buddhist philosophy, the āyatanā (12-fold: cakkhu, sota, ghāna, jivhā, kāya, mano and their objects) form the basis for perception and suffering.

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

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