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kocideva

kaci

pronoun with emphatic particle (sandhi form)

1. kaci (pron): someone; something; anyone; anything; whoever
2. koci (pron): someone; something; anyone; anything; whoever
3. koci (ind): somewhere; anywhere
4. kocideva (sandhi): even some; just some; some or other

Built from

• ko- — root · who, which
  Interrogative/indefinite pronoun stem; underlying ki-, cognate with Sanskrit ka-, Greek tís, Latin quis (who, which).
• -ci — ending · indefinite suffix
  Enclitic suffix that makes the interrogative indefinite: kaci = 'anyone', 'someone', instead of a direct question. Same in koci (dialectal/sandhi variant).
• eva — stem · even, just, only
  Emphatic particle; from PIE *ewen-, cognate with English 'even'. Follows the pronoun to intensify or restrict: 'even some', 'just some'.

Analysis. koci (indefinite pronoun: someone, something) + eva (emphatic particle: just, even, only) — the combination kocideva emphasizes the indefinite sense, 'some or other', 'even just some'.

Etymology. kaci is an indefinite pronoun of obscure origin, possibly related to kata/kattha (where, which), but the etymology is not transparent. eva is from PIE *ewen- (cf. Sanskrit eva, meaning 'even, also, only'), cognate with English 'even'.

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

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