itibhavābhavakathaṁ

accusative singular of itibhavābhavakathā (feminine noun); appears to be a corrupted or hypercompound form not directly attested in canonical texts—likely resolves to iti + bhavābhavakathā or similar

discourse on being and non-being
talk about existence and non-existence

Built from

iti — prefix · thus, so
Demonstrative particle marking reported or conceptual speech; not a true morphological prefix but a semantic marker binding the utterance.
bhava — root · becoming, existence
√bhū 'to be, become'; from PIE *bheu-. Concrete sense: the process or state of arising and persisting. In Buddhist doctrine, the second factor of paṭiccasamuppāda, one of the three rounds of saṃsāra.
abhava — stem · non-being, non-existence
a- (negation) + bhava; the logical negation of becoming. Represents the annihilationist extreme rejected by the Buddha.
kathā — stem · discourse, speech
From √kath- 'to tell, speak'. Concrete sense: utterance, narrative. In doctrinal usage, often indicates formal or philosophical exposition.
ṁ — ending · accusative
Accusative singular ending marking the object of a verb; here governs the entire compound as the direct object of an implied verb of speaking or contemplating.

Analysis. itibhavābhavakathā breaks as iti ('thus') + bhava ('becoming, existence') + abhava ('non-being, non-existence') + kathā ('discourse, speech'). The compound reflects philosophical discussion of the two extremes—eternalism (sassatavāda, holding that self eternally is) and annihilationism (ucchedavāda, holding that self utterly is not)—which the Buddha's Middle Way transcends.

Etymology. bhava is from √bhū 'to be' (cognate English be, Latin fui, German bin); abhava adds the a- prefix meaning 'not, without'; kathā from √kath- 'to speak' (cognate Latin cathedra via Greek). The pairing bhavābhava encodes a core doctrinal tension of early Buddhism.

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

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