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imassa

ima

masc dat sg of ima (pron); nt dat sg of ima (pron); masc gen sg of ima (pron); nt gen sg of ima (pron)

1. ima (pron): this
2. imassa (pron): for this; for him
3. imassa (pron): of this; his

Built from

• i- — root · this
  Demonstrative stem from PIE *i-. The bare stem ima (nom sg masc) appears in compounds and as the base for all oblique cases.
• -ma — ending · this (demonstrative formant)
  PIE demonstrative suffix -mo-, seen also in Sanskrit -ma and Latin -is (from *-mos). Marks the pronoun as near-deictic.
• -ssa — ending · genitive-dative
  In this form, -ssa fuses genitive and dative singular. Common in Pali pronouns (cf. tassa, yassa). Expresses possession ('of this') and indirect object ('for this/him').

Etymology. From PIE *i-mo-, a demonstrative stem related to Sanskrit idam 'this' and Latin is, ea, id 'that, he, she, it'. The suffix -ma (< *-mo-) is a common demonstrative formant in Indo-European. English 'this' derives from a different PIE stem (*tó-). The -ssa ending is genitive-dative singular, fully regular in Pali inflection.

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

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