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anattāti

anatta

adj; also anattāti (indeclinable particle marking quotation or assertion)

1. impersonal; not oneself; non-subjective; not suitable to identify with; coreless; essenceless
2. which is impersonal; non-self; not subject to identification

Built from

• an — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognate with English un-, Greek a(n)- (atheist). Here negates the existence of a permanent self.
• atta — root · self, soul
  Skt. ātman. Originally meant 'breath' or 'essence'; in Vedic thought the eternal self. Pali atta preserves the same root, which the Buddha explicitly rejected as a doctrine.
• iti — ending · thus, so (quotation marker)
  Indeclinable particle marking direct speech or assertion. Here it frames anatta as a stated doctrine or utterance, emphasizing it as a core teaching.

Analysis. anatta (adj., 'non-self') + iti (quotation particle 'thus, so'). The form anattāti marks the assertion or utterance of the doctrine that there is no permanent self; it appears in formulas like 'anattāti' as a doctrinal statement.

Etymology. an- (prefix 'not, without') + atta (Skt. ātman, 'self, soul'). Atta cognates with Latin ātus and English 'atom' (from Greek a-tomos, 'uncuttable'—originally meaning the indivisible essence, later the smallest particle). The doctrine of anattā directly denies the Upaniṣadic ātman, making this a cardinal marker of Buddhist thought.

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

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