‹ Back to the text

atthoti

attha

masculine; nominative singular in *atthoti* 'it is benefit/meaning' (frozen phrase)

1. meaning; sense; significance
2. benefit; profit; good; welfare
3. purpose; use; function; goal
4. matter; affair; legal case; lawsuit
5. for the purpose; for the sake; for the benefit (of)
6. need; want (for)
7. needing; wanting; seeking
8. home; rest; shelter
9. …

Built from

• attha — root · meaning, benefit
  From IE *h₂er- 'fit, join'; Sanskrit artha. The word embodies the notion of what is relevant or fitting to the matter at hand.
• iti — ending · thus, so; copula
  The particle 'iti' functions here as a frozen marker of predication, collapsing atthi 'is' into the nominative absolute. It signals direct assertion or aphoristic value.

Analysis. attha (benefit, meaning) + iti (thus, so) — a frozen nominative absolute phrase meaning 'it is to the point, it is significant', used as an adverbial predicate. The *-ti* is the copula *atthi* 'is' with vowel coalescence.

Etymology. attha is related to Sanskrit *artha* 'meaning, purpose, thing', from Indo-European *h₂er- 'to fit, join' (English *art*, *arthritis*). The prefix *a-* in attha may reflect an older formation; the root sense is 'that which fits together' or 'what is fitting/relevant'. The particle *iti* ('thus') is cognate with Latin *-itis* (in names) and ultimately Indo-European *ei- 'to go' (whence 'what goes with, what fits').

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version