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amutrāsiṁ

amutrāsi

imperfect active, 1st person singular; attested surface form amutrāsiṁ with sandhi-added anusvāra (see analysis)

1. I was there (in a past life)
2. I existed formerly

Built from

• amu — root · other, another
  This root sense is preserved in Sanskrit amutra. The meaning shifted from 'other place' to 'former time' in narrative contexts.
• ttha — ending · locative/temporal suffix
  Marks location or time. Related to the locative ending -ttha (e.g. tattha 'there').
• ā — prefix · toward, about to, completing the action
  Here integrated into the verbal form āsi, giving a sense of completed past action.
• s — root · be, exist
  Root *h₂es-, cognate with Greek ein-, Latin es-, English is.
• i — ending · 1st singular imperfect
  Marks first person singular in the imperfect tense, expressing past habitual or narrative action.

Analysis. amuttha (adverb, 'in another place; formerly') + āsi (imperfect of atthi, 'was'). The ṁ is sandhi: final -i before following vowel becomes -iṁ. Doctrinal: used in accounts of past-life remembrance (anussati) where a bhikkhu recalls a previous existence.

Etymology. Amuttha derives from Vedic amutra (Sanskrit amutra 'in another place, at another time'); the suffix -ttha is locative. āsi is imperfect of asti (to be), cognate with Greek esti, Latin est, English is — Indo-European *h₂es-.

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

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