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anattā

anatta

masc nom pl of anatta (adj); fem nom sg of anatta (adj); fem nom pl of anatta (adj); nt nom pl of anatta (adj); …

1. impersonal; not oneself; non-subjective; not suitable to identify with; coreless; essenceless
2. which is impersonal; non-self; not subject to identification

Built from

• an- — prefix · not, without
  Negation. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)-, Latin in-. The prefix reverses the sense of attā.
• attā — root · self, soul, essence
  Sanskrit ātman; cognate with Greek autos 'self' and Latin *atmen. In non-Buddhist philosophy, the permanent, eternal self; in Buddhism, precisely what is denied as nonexistent.

Etymology. an- (prefix 'not, without') + attā (self, soul). The negation of the Pali attā (Sanskrit ātman 'self, soul'; cognate with Latin *at-men, Greek autos 'self'). Core to Buddhist doctrine: the doctrine that nothing has a permanent, unchanging essence or 'I' — contrasting with Vedic teaching of ātman as eternal soul.

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

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