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assadammasārathi

masc nom sg of assadammasārathi (noun); masc voc sg of assadammasārathi (noun)

1. horse trainer; horse tamer; master charioteer; lit. driver of horses to be tamed

Built from

• assa — root · horse
  Sanskrit aśva, Greek hippos, Latin equus. All Indo-European terms for the domesticated riding animal.
• damma — stem · to-be-tamed
  Gerundive form of √dam (to tame, subdue). Sanskrit dama, Greek damáō. The concrete sense: subduing the wild animal's nature.
• sārathi — stem · charioteer, driver
  Agent noun from √sṛ (to go, move) + -atha. One who guides motion. Sanskrit sārathi; related to English series, Latin serere (to arrange in sequence).
• -i — ending · nominative singular
  The final vowel marks masculine nominative singular and fits the vocative apposition used when addressing the charioteer by title.

Analysis. A dvandva-type compound: assa (horse, accusative singular) + damma (to be tamed, accusative singular gerundive) + sārathi (charioteer, driver). The first member assa agrees in case with the gerundive damma to form the direct object of sārathi's action: 'driver of horses-to-be-tamed', i.e. one who drives/trains horses that need taming. The accent in vocative address shows it as a title of mastery.

Etymology. assa (horse) is cognate with Sanskrit aśva, Greek hippos (via different Indo-European roots *h₂ek-wo- and *h₁ek-wo-), and Latin equus; all descend from the same Proto-Indo-European stock. damma (from √dam, to tame/subdue) is related to Sanskrit dama, Greek δαμάω damáō (to tame, subdue), and English tame (all from PIE *demh₂-, to subdue). sārathi (charioteer, driver, from √sṛ, to go/move, + -atha agent suffix) is related to Sanskrit sārathi; the root shows up in English series, Latin serere (to join in sequence).

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

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