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dīgharattāhaṁ

First person singular nominative of dīgharattāha; contraction and sandhi form not otherwise attested; resolves to dīgharattha + ahaṁ

1. for a long time (I)
2. through ages (I)

Built from

• dīgha — root · long
  Cognate with English long, Greek dolichos. Concrete image of physical extension in space; here applied to temporal duration.
• ratta — stem · night, time
  From √ranj (to dye, color); night conceived as the darkened period. In compounds extends to mean "duration" or "period of time."
• ahaṁ — ending · I (nominative)
  First person singular nominative pronoun. Marks the speaker as subject of the implied copula or assertion.

Analysis. dīgha (long) + ratta (night, time) + tha (oblique stem) + ahaṁ (I). In compounds and liturgical Pali, ratta extends to mean "duration" or "period"; dīgharattāha as a single utterance means "for/through a long time (I am)."

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

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