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atthassa

attha

masc dat sg of attha (noun); masc gen sg of attha (noun); masc dat sg of attha (adj); nt dat sg of attha (adj); …

1. meaning; sense; significance
2. benefit; profit; good; welfare
3. purpose; use; function; goal
4. matter; affair; legal case; lawsuit
5. for the purpose; for the sake; for the benefit (of)
6. matter; affair
7. need; want (for)
8. needing; wanting; seeking
9. …

Built from

• attha — root · meaning, purpose, benefit
  From Sanskrit artha < PIE *h₂er- 'to fit, suit'. The root originally carried the concrete sense of 'what is suited or fitting' and evolved to mean 'purpose, benefit, sense'.

Etymology. From Sanskrit artha, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- 'to fit, suit'; cognate with English arthritis (joint disease, where the joint 'fits'), and distantly with Latin ars 'art, craft' (from the sense of fitting things together). The semantic development runs from 'that which fits or suits' to 'purpose, use, benefit'.

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

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