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ādāsoti

ādāsa

masculine nominative singular + iti (quotation particle)

1. mirror; reflector

Built from

• ā — prefix · toward, back
  Reverses motion or direction; in ādāsa, transforms √dṛś from "seeing outward" to "reflecting back toward the viewer".
• dṛś — root · see, look, appear
  From Indo-European *der- (to see); cognates include English dare (to face, confront), Latin derigō (direct), Sanskrit dṛś (see).
• a — ending · agent noun
  Forms masculine agent nouns from roots; here -a derives the instrument or agent that performs the action of reflecting.
• iti — ending · thus, so
  Quotation particle marking the preceding word as cited, quoted, or mentioned; common in narrative and doctrinal contexts.

Analysis. ādāso (mirror, nominative) + iti (thus, so—quotation particle marking the word as cited or quoted)

Etymology. ā- (toward, reversing motion) + √dṛś (see, look) → ādāsa as "that which looks back at one", "that which reflects toward"; cognate with Sanskrit ādars, Latin dare (causative sense of showing), English direct. The prefix ā- reverses the direction of looking: instead of the subject looking out, the mirror directs the gaze back toward the viewer.

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

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