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adāsi
adati
imp 2nd sg of adati (verb); aor 3rd sg of adāsi (verb); aor 2nd sg of adāsi (verb); fem voc sg of adāsī (noun)
- adati (pr): eats
- adāsi (aor): gave; offered (to)
- adāsī (fem): free woman; not a maidservant; not a female slave
Built from
- a — prefix · past tense marker
Marks the aorist aspect, indicating a completed action without progressive sense. Cognate with the Sanskrit and Latin aorist-perfective prefix.
- dā — root · give, offer
The concrete image is giving—handing over. Cognates: Sanskrit dā, Latin dō/dare, Greek didōmi (di- is reduplication), English dare (archaic 'to venture, risk'). Central to all gift-giving and offering in Buddhist texts (dāna).
- s — ending · 3rd singular aorist
Marks 3rd person singular in the simple aorist, without person or number agreement beyond the subject. The -s is the inherited thematic vowel + aorist morpheme.
- i — ending · 2nd singular aorist
Marks 2nd person singular in the simple aorist when the word is read as adāsi (thou gavest).
Etymology. √dā 'give' with perfective prefix a-. Cognate with Sanskrit adāt (3rd sg aorist of dā), Latin dō and dare, English dare (in the archaic sense 'to venture'), Greek didōmi. The prefix a- marks the simple aorist aspect across Indo-European: Latin amāvī 'I loved' (perfect), Sanskrit aor. stem a-bhara 'carried'. In Pali, a- typically indicates past tense in the aorist.