Q:

"事故にでもあったのではあるまいか。" grammar help please?

I came across this example in a textbook, and I can't figure out the grammar of the 2nd sentence:

彼から来るはずの連絡がない。事故にでもあったのではあるまいか。

ok:

The correspondence from him that was expected has not come. 事故にでもあったのではあるまいか。

I've no idea what 事故にでもあった means. I can only imagine tokenizing as:  

事故、に、でも、あった

maybe I can imagine:

事故、に、合った。 I had an accident

Not sure what to make of that でも... I don't know.

A:

The ～にでも makes the sentence mean 'Could he have been involved in an accident or such?' It just makes the sentence politer than ～に alone. The last bit is a little odd too: ～のではあるまいか is a somewhat archaic way of saying ～のではないだろうか. The construction is used for offering a suggestion.

