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mamassa

sandhi contraction: mama + assa

1. it could be my; it would be for me

Built from

• mama — stem · my, mine
  Possessive genitive of first-person singular aham; derives from the Indo-European root mad- seen in Latin meus, Greek eme, English me.
• assa — ending · would be, optative
  Optative mood (potential/conditional) of atthi (to be), from √as. Marks hypothetical or wished-for action: 'it would be', 'it could be'. Cognate with Sanskrit āsan, Latin esse, English is.

Analysis. mama (my, genitive/possessive) + assa (optative of atthi, to be; would be). The contraction elides the final -a of mama before the initial a- of assa, yielding mamassa. Common in conditional and potential expressions: 'it would be for me', 'it might be mine'.

Etymology. mama < mad- (Indo-European root for 'me'; Latin meus, Greek eme, English me); assa < √as (to be; Sanskrit asti, Latin est, English is). The optative sense 'would be' develops from the basic copula.

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

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