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tena
ta
masc instr sg of ta (pron); nt instr sg of ta (pron); masc instr sg of ta (letter)
- ta (pron): that
- ta (letter): (gram) letter t; 24th letter of the alphabet; dental sibilant
- tena (pron): with him; by him; with that; by that
- tena (ind): thereby; because of that; on that account; lit. by that; with that
- tena (ind): there
Built from
- t — root · that; demonstrative
The demonstrative root pointing to a thing, person, or idea at hand. Cognate with English 'that', Latin 'is/id', Greek 'to', Sanskrit 'tat'—all from Indo-European *to-/te-, the most ancient deictic.
- ena — ending · instrumental singular
The instrumental ending marks the case of the agent, instrument, or means by which an action is performed; here, 'by/with him' or 'by/with that'. The -ena ending is characteristic of Pali instrumental forms on a-stem and consonant-stem pronouns.
Etymology. From the demonstrative stem *ta- (Indo-European *to-, *te-, cognate with English 'that', Latin 'is/id', Greek 'to', Sanskrit 'tat'). The instrumental singular form tena reflects the inflection of the Proto-Indo-European neuter d-stem *tod, with the instrumental ending -ena.