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tatheva

tatha

indeclinable (sandhi contraction of tathā + eva)

1. tatha (adj): true; real; actual
2. tatha (nt): truth; actuality
3. tatha (masc): name of a privately awakened Buddha; lit. truth
4. tathā (ind): so; thus; in such a way; likewise; similarly
5. tatheva (sandhi): likewise; in the same way; as it is; as they are; similarly; lit. just like this
6. tatheva (sandhi): really; truly; still
7. tatheva (sandhi): just like this; simply the truth; how it is
8. tatheva (sandhi): just the same; exactly the same; identical

Built from

• tathā — root · thus, so
  An adverbial form from √tā 'stretch, extend', whose concrete sense of laying things out in sequence underlies the meaning 'accordingly, thus'. Sanskrit tathā shows the same formation.
• eva — ending · just, only, even
  An enclitic particle that isolates or emphasizes the preceding word, restricting it to a single manner or identity: 'in just that way, nothing else'. Works like Latin -ve (vel 'or') in scope.

Analysis. tathā (adverb, 'thus, so') + eva (particle, 'just, only, even') — the contraction emphasizes the manner or identity of what precedes: 'in exactly that way', 'just as it is'.

Etymology. tathā is an old adverbial form from the root √tā 'stretch, extend' (seen in Sanskrit tāti 'stretches'), originally concrete imagery of laying things out flat or in a line, hence 'arranged in order' and then 'accordingly, thus'. The suffix -eva (from √vi 'to separate, distinguish') intensifies or isolates: 'just this one way, nothing else'. No direct English cognate, but compare Latin talis 'such' from the same Indo-European base.

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

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