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kātunti

kātuṃ

infinitive of karoti

1. to do; to perform
2. to make

Built from

• kā — root · do, make
  √kar in zero-grade; the concrete sense is to make or fashion something. Cognate with Latin creare (create), Greek keras (blend).
• tuṃ — ending · infinitive suffix
  Marks the verbal root as an infinitive noun, expressing the action without personal inflection. Cognate with Latin -tu (amātu, faciendum-type forms).
• iti — ending · quotative particle
  Converts the infinitive phrase into a reported or cited utterance, commonly used to frame the infinitive as a noun phrase in narrative or direct speech contexts.

Analysis. kātuṃ + iti; kātuṃ is the infinitive form of √kar (to do, make), and iti is the quotative particle marking reported speech or the infinitive as a noun phrase.

Etymology. √kar (to do, make, create) is an ancient Indo-European root cognate with Latin creare (to create), Greek keras (to mix, blend), and English craft. The infinitive suffix -tuṃ derives from Proto-Indo-European *-tu-, marking the action as a verbal noun; -iti is the quotative marker converting the infinitive into a noun phrase suitable for embedding or citation.

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

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