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etadavocaṁ

etadavoca

3rd person singular aorist indicative of etadavacati (contraction/sandhi form); literally 'he/she/it said this'

1. he/she/it said this
2. announced
3. declared

Built from

• e — root · this (demonstrative)
  Pali ē, etā; points to something near at hand or already mentioned.
• tad — stem · that/this (neuter)
  Oblique stem form of eta; marks the object of speech.
• ā — prefix · toward, out
  Reverses motion toward the speaker; here, speech directed outward to an audience.
• voca — root · speak, say
  √vac; cognate with Latin vox, English voice. The root's sense is 'voice' or 'utter'.
• ṁ — ending · 3rd singular aorist
  Marks past tense, perfective aspect, 3rd person; ṁ is the late Pali form of the aorist ending -it/-at.

Analysis. etad (etā + d, 'this' with euphonic d) + avoca (√vac 'speak', aorist; ā + vac with ā reversing the motion of √vac, so 'spoke out, declared'). The whole phrase marks direct speech or reported utterance in narrative contexts.

Etymology. √vac 'speak' (Sanskrit vac, Latin vox 'voice', English voice). The prefix ā- turns inward-directed speech outward toward the listener. Cognate with English 'voice' and Latin 'vox'; the compound etad + avoca echoes Sanskrit etad avoca.

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

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