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dvemā

sandhi contraction of dve + imā

1. these two

Built from

• dve — root · two
  From PIE *dwoi̯-, the same root as English 'two' and German 'zwei'. Expresses duality or a pair.
• imā — stem · these (nom. pl.)
  Nominative plural form of idam (this, that). The final -ā marks nominative plural masculine/neuter gender.

Analysis. dve (two) + imā (these, nom. pl. masc./neut.); the initial vowel of imā assimilates to the final vowel of dve in rapid speech, yielding dvemā as a single phonetic unit.

Etymology. dve < dvi- (two), from Proto-Indo-European *dwoi̯-, cognates English two, German zwei, Latin duo, Sanskrit dvi-. imā is the nominative plural of idam (this, that). The contraction reflects natural sandhi vowel coalescence common in Pali speech.

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

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