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evamassa

sandhi contraction: evaṃ + assa

1. he would (think) thus; this would occur to him
2. such about him; this regarding him; lit. thus of him
3. thus to him; thus to it
4. thus his
5. thus should be; should be in this way

Built from

• evaṃ — root · thus, so
  Demonstrative adverbial particle, ancient Indo-European word for 'thus'. Cognate with Sanskrit evam.
• assa — ending · would be (optative)
  Optative mood of atthi (to be), marking potential, conditional, or wished-for action. Derived from PIE *h₂es- (English 'is', Latin 'est').

Analysis. evaṃ (thus, so) + assa (optative of atthi, to be; would be). The contraction shows how evaṃ's final -ṃ assimilates into the following vowel of assa. Semantically: 'thus it would be' or 'thus to him', used in narrative to indicate conditional or reflective thought.

Etymology. evaṃ is an old demonstrative-adverbial stem (cognate with Sanskrit evam, Greek houtos via different ablaut; cf. English 'so' from Proto-Germanic *swa). assa is the optative of atthi (from PIE *h₂es- 'to be'; cognates: Sanskrit asti, Latin est, English 'is'). The optative mood marks potential or conditional action.

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

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