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sāvatthiyaṁ

sāvatthī

locative singular of sāvatthī (feminine noun, a place-name: the city of Sāvatthī)

1. in Sāvatthī
2. at Sāvatthī

Built from

• sāvatthī — root · Sāvatthī (place-name)
  An ancient city in northern India, traditionally identified with the modern Saveth. One of the Buddha's principal residences, mentioned at the head of numerous suttas.
• -aṁ — ending · locative singular
  The ending -aṁ (a nasalized allomorph of the locative -e) places the action or discourse at the location named; here, marks Sāvatthī as the setting where the teaching took place.

Analysis. sāvatthī is a proper noun (city name, one of the Buddha's principal dwelling-places in the canon); the locative ending -aṁ marks location or the setting for discourse. Sāvatthī (modern Saveth, in Uttar Pradesh) was the seat of the wealthy patron Anāthapiṇḍika and appears in hundreds of canonical suttas as the opening location.

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

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