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ahampi

aha

nominative singular pronoun + particle (sandhi form)

1. aha (nt): day
2. aha (masc): day
3. ahampi (sandhi): I too
4. ahaṃ (pron): I

Built from

• ahaṃ — root · I
  First person singular nominative pronoun from PIE *ego-. Cognate with English ego, Latin ego, Greek egō. The primary marker of the speaking subject.
• api — prefix · also, too
  Enclitic additive particle. Originally spatial ('on top of, besides') but reduced to a marker of association or addition. Undergoes sandhi with the preceding consonant.

Analysis. ahaṃ (nominative singular of aham, 'I') + api (enclitic particle, 'too, also'); the final -ṃ of ahaṃ assimilates before the vowel, yielding ahampi.

Etymology. ahaṃ from PIE *ego-, cognate with English 'ego', Latin 'ego', Greek 'egō'. The sense is the speaker's direct self-reference. api is an adverbial particle meaning 'also, too', related to Sanskrit api; its original spatial sense (perhaps 'on top of, besides') has become purely additive.

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

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