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vāssa

sandhi form: vā + assa

1. or for him; or towards him
2. or his

Built from

• vā — root · or
  Disjunctive particle offering an alternative. Cognate with Latin -ve and Sanskrit vā.
• assa — ending · his, for him (dative-genitive)
  3rd masculine singular dative-genitive of tam (him). Marks the oblique relation of the pronoun to the verb or preposition.

Analysis. vā (or) + assa (3rd sg. masc. dative/genitive of tam, him/his). A disjunctive particle paired with a pronoun in oblique case, offering an alternative.

Etymology. vā is an ancient disjunctive particle cognate with Latin -ve (aut...ve 'either...or') and Sanskrit vā, from Indo-European *we 'or'; assa is the 3rd singular masculine dative-genitive of the pronoun tam (him), cognate with Sanskrit asya and related to English 'he' via Indo-European *so-.

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

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