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sāssa

sandhi form (sā + assa)

1. that for him
2. that (is) his

Built from

• sā — root · that (demonstrative)
  Feminine nominative singular of the demonstrative pronoun; from PIE *so-/to- 'that', cognate with English 'that', Latin 'is', Greek 'ho'. The root points toward the distal object in space.
• assa — ending · genitive, dative (for him/his)
  Genitive-dative singular masculine of the 3rd person pronoun; historically from *asya (Sanskrit asya). In this position it expresses possession ('his') or benefactive ('for him'). Sandhi merges sā + assa → sāssa through elision of the juncture.

Analysis. sā (feminine nominative singular demonstrative pronoun 'that') + assa (genitive singular masculine of aya 'he', dative-genitive form meaning 'for him' or 'of him'). The contraction exemplifies external sandhi where final -ā and initial a- coalesce into -ā-.

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

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