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byāsattamanasaṁ

byāsatta

adjective, accusative singular masculine agreeing with manasaṁ (contracted form: byāsattamanasaṁ)

1. preoccupied mind
2. distracted
3. absent-minded

Built from

• vi — prefix · apart, asunder
  Marks scattered, divergent direction; things pulled in different ways rather than unified.
• ā — prefix · toward, up to
  Reverses motion and often intensifies; here bound to √sañj 'cling'.
• sañj — root · cling, attach
  From Indo-European *senk-; the root of saṅga 'attachment' and sañjati 'sticks'.
• ta — ending · past participle
  Forms an adjective meaning 'clung, attached'; combined with vi-ā-, yields 'clung apart', distracted.

Analysis. byāsatta-manasaṁ: 'preoccupied mind' — a contracted compound where byāsatta (distracted, obsessed) modifies manasaṁ (mind, accusative); in Pali texts often written as one word when describing mental states in the context of meditation obstacles.

Etymology. byāsatta is from vi- (apart, asunder) + āsatta (clung, attached), literally 'clung apart' or 'pulled away' — the spatial sense of vi- (things pulled in different directions) combines with attachment (āsatta from ā + √sañj, to cling) to yield the sense of mental fragmentation and obsessive preoccupation.

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

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