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etadahosi

sandhi contraction: etad + ahosi

1. this (thought) occurred (to); lit. this was (for)

Built from

• etad — root · this
  Neuter singular accusative of eta, the demonstrative pronoun meaning 'this'; cognate with Sanskrit etat and English 'that' (via Indo-European *e-/et- 'that', the base of all demonstratives).
• ahosi — root · was, became
  3rd person singular imperfect of atthi (√as 'to be'); cognate with Sanskrit āsīt and English 'is' (both from Indo-European *h₂es- 'to be, exist'). The imperfect denotes a completed thought or event in past narrative.

Analysis. etad (neuter singular demonstrative pronoun 'this') + ahosi (3rd person singular imperfect of atthi 'was, became'); the contraction etad + ahosi > etadahosi represents the fusion of a pronoun object and imperfect verb, common in narrative prose where an idea or thought suddenly arises to a character.

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

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