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divāti

diva

indeclinable (divāti), from divā + iti

1. diva (masc): heaven; sky above
2. diva (masc): day
3. divā (ind): by day; during the day

Built from

• diva — root · sky, day
  From PIE *dyew- 'to shine, sky'. The root and its derivatives appear across Indo-European: Latin deus, Sanskrit dyaus, English deity.
• -ā — ending · instrumental case
  The feminine/neuter instrumental ending -ā (cognate with Sanskrit -ā) transforms the noun into an adverbial form meaning 'by' or 'in the manner of'.
• iti — root · thus, quotative
  The quotative particle 'so, thus' converts the instrumental phrase into a set adverbial expression, common in Pali for forming fixed adverbs.

Analysis. divā (indeclinable 'by day') + iti (quotative particle 'thus, so') — a frozen instrumental form followed by the quotative, meaning 'by day so' or 'in the manner of day', used adverbially.

Etymology. diva from Proto-Indo-European *dyew- 'sky, day, shining' (cognates: Latin deus 'god', Sanskrit div- 'sky', dyaus 'day', English Tuesday < Tiw the sky-god, Greek zeus). The sense shift from 'sky' to 'day' follows the visible appearance of daylight in the sky. divā is the instrumental case form of the masculine noun diva.

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

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