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maraṇampi

maraṇa

nominative neuter singular with enclitic api

1. death; dying

Built from

• mar — root · die, fade
  Concrete imagery: dissolution, wearing away. Cognates: Latin mors (death), English 'mortal', Greek meremnē (care, anxiety—from the wear of worry). The root carries the sense of natural decay and dissolution.
• ana — ending · action noun
  Nominalizing suffix forming abstract nouns of action or result from roots. Produces maraṇa (the dying, death as a process).
• api — prefix · even, also
  Enclitic particle emphasizing that the following (or preceding) element is included in scope. Often pairs with other terms to show completeness or inevitability of a condition.

Analysis. maraṇa (death) + api (even, also): 'even death', death too; the enclitic emphasizes that death itself is included in the scope of impermanence or suffering.

Etymology. √mar- (to die, fade away) is the root; Latin mors, mortis (death), and English 'mortal' descend from the same Indo-European *mer- 'to die, wear away'. The noun is formed with the suffix -ana (action or result of the verbal root). The usage maraṇampi is doctrinal: in the suttas it appears in contexts stressing that even death cannot be escaped or that death-consciousness is a turning point in rebirth.

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

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