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ekissāya

eka

fem gen sg of eka (card); fem gen sg of eka (adj)

1. one (1)
2. a; a certain; a single
3. alone; single; solitary
4. only
5. same; one and the same

Built from

• eka — root · one
  The numeral/adjective 'one', from PIE *oikos. Cognate with Latin ūnus, Greek oîkos (originally 'single household'), and English one.
• issa — stem · one (instrumental)
  Instrumental singular of eka, used here as the base for deriving an abstract noun of purpose or reason.
• āya — ending · (abstract noun suffix)
  Suffix forming abstract nouns from case forms; -issāya compounds the instrumental issa + āya to create 'for the sake of, for the purpose of'.

Analysis. ekissāya = eka (one) + issāya (suffix forming abstract noun meaning 'sake, purpose'). The -issāya suffix derives from instrumental issa (from eka) meaning 'for the sake of, on account of'; thus literally 'for the sake of one' or 'for one purpose'.

Etymology. Eka descends from Proto-Indo-European *oikos 'one', cognate with Greek oîkos 'house, household' (via semantic shift 'a single unit'), Latin ūnus 'one' (via syncope), and English one. The suffix -issāya contains the old instrumental instrumental singular issa (from eka itself) + -āya, creating abstract nouns denoting purpose or reason.

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

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