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jātisatampi

jātisata

nt (nominative/accusative plural with enclitic api)

1. one hundred lives

Built from

• jāti — stem · birth, life, becoming
  Feminine noun derived from √jan 'to be born'. Denotes rebirth or one life in the cycle of saṁsāra. Sanskrit janati (to be born), English kin, Latin genus (race, kind)—all share the Proto-Indo-European root *gen-.
• sata — root · hundred
  Numeral standing as a stem. Sanskrit śata, Latin centum, English hundred from Proto-Indo-European *kṁtóm. Used in compounds to quantify temporal or numerical vastness in Buddhist texts.
• ṃ — ending · accusative singular
  Accusative marker on jātisata, preparing the noun to receive the enclitic particle api, which attaches to the case-inflected form.
• pi — ending · even, also (enclitic)
  Enclitic particle emphasizing or conceding the preceding noun: 'even a hundred lives', strengthening the sense of accumulated rebirth.

Analysis. jātisata (one hundred lives) + api (even, also): 'even a hundred lives', emphasizing the multiplicity of rebirths in saṁsāra; the accusative jātisataṃ takes the enclitic particle api, creating the sense of 'even as many as a hundred lives'.

Etymology. jāti from √jan (to be born, to become; Sanskrit janati, English kin, Latin genus) + sata (hundred, from Proto-Indo-European *kṁtóm; Sanskrit śata, Latin centum, English hundred). The compound denotes a span of rebirths across saṁsāra, a standard measure of temporal vastness in the Canon.

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

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