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jātisahassampi

jātisahassa

neuter nominative or accusative singular, with enclitic api (even, also)

1. one thousand lives

Built from

• jāti — root · birth, rebirth
  From √jan (to be born); the concrete image of emergence into life, used in the canon to denote individual rebirths within the cycle of suffering (saṃsāra).
• sahassa — stem · thousand
  An ancient numeral noun, from PIE *k̑m̑-to-, unchanged across most Indo-European languages (English hundred, Latin centum, Greek hekatón).
• api — prefix · even, also
  An enclitic particle emphasizing the preceding noun or phrase; here it stresses the immensity of 'a thousand lives' in the context of repeated rebirth.

Analysis. jātisahassa (one thousand lives) + api (even, also): a neuter compound meaning 'even a thousand lives', used in doctrinal contexts to emphasize the length of time or the magnitude of suffering across many rebirths.

Etymology. jāti (birth, rebirth) from √jan (to be born), cognate with Latin gignō, genus, English kin; sahassa (thousand) from Indo-European *k̑m̑-to- (cognate with English hundred, Latin centum, Greek hekatón). The compound stresses the vast temporal span of saṃsāra.

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

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