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kissa

ka

masc dat sg of ka (interr); nt dat sg of ka (interr); masc gen sg of ka (interr); nt gen sg of ka (interr); …

1. ka (pron): who?; what?; which?
2. ka (pron): where?
3. ki (pron): who?; what?; which?
4. kissa (pron): for whom?; for what reason?; why?
5. kissa (pron): of whom?; of what?; of which?
6. kī (masc): name of the reigning king at the time of Kassapa Buddha
7. kī (root): (gram) √kī (buy)

Analysis. kissa is the dative and genitive singular of the interrogative pronoun ka (who?, what?). The form shows inherited inflection from Indo-European *k̑id-, the stem underlying all interrogatives in the family.

Etymology. From Proto-Indo-European *k̑id- (interrogative root), which also underlies English who, what, German wer, wer, Sanskrit ka-, and Latin quod. The Pali forms reflect the ancient case-system: kissa blends dative (for whom?, purpose) and genitive (of whom?, possession) in a single oblique form, as happened throughout the nominal declension as Sanskrit and Pali evolved.

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

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