‹ Back to the text

satte

satta

masc acc pl of satta (noun); masc loc sg of satta (noun); masc acc pl of satta (pp); nt acc pl of satta (pp); …

1. satta (masc): being; living being; creature
2. satta (masc): bright principal, sattva (of the Sāṃkhya)
3. satta (pp): clung; stuck; attached (to)
4. satta (pp): cursed; sworn
5. sattar (masc): enemy; adversary

Built from

• sat — root · cling; attach
  From √sañj. The concrete image is adhesion, clinging, settling into place; hence 'being' as the entity that clings to saṃsāra through craving and ignorance.
• ta — ending · past participle
  Forms the past participle, marking the state of being attached or clung to; in the context of satta as 'being', it denotes the settled, bound condition of a creature.

Etymology. From √sañj 'to cling, attach' (Sanskrit sañj-, cognate with English 'sink' via Indo-European *senǵ- 'to sink, settle'). The sense 'being' derives from 'that which clings (to existence)', a key doctrinal notion: satta as the animate entity bound by attachment (upādāna). The sense 'enemy' is from the past participle used as agent noun, 'one who clings (to harm)' or 'adversary'.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version