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mameva

ahaṃ

pronoun, genitive singular + emphatic particle (sandhi form)

1. ahaṃ (pron): I
2. mama (pron): to me; for me
3. mama (pron): my; mine; of me
4. mameva (sandhi): of me alone; only mine; mine alone

Built from

• mama — root · of me
  Genitive singular of ahaṃ (I), from PIE *eg- (I, me). Cognates: Sanskrit aham, Greek egō, Latin ego, English I. The pronoun's oblique forms preserve the old case system.
• eva — prefix · alone, just, only
  Emphatic particle from PIE *e-wi- (one). Cognate with Sanskrit eva. In compounds, it emphasizes the preceding word, narrowing focus to that element alone.

Analysis. mama (genitive singular of ahaṃ 'I') + eva (emphatic particle 'alone, just, only'); the genitive mama becomes mam before eva through elision of final -a.

Etymology. ahaṃ is the nominative of the first-person singular pronoun, cognate with Sanskrit aham, Greek egō, Latin ego, English I (all from PIE *eg-). The emphatic particle eva is cognate with Sanskrit eva, from PIE *e-wi- (one, alone); it intensifies the pronoun to mean 'me alone' or 'only me'.

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

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