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abhivādanā

abhivādana

nt nom pl of abhivādana (noun); nt instr sg of abhivādana (noun); nt abl sg of abhivādana (noun); nt voc sg of abhivādana (noun); …

1. abhivādana (nt): bowing down; paying respect; honouring
2. abhivādanā (fem): bowing down; paying respect (to); honouring

Built from

• abhi — prefix · toward, over
  Bearing down on, facing someone. Latin ob- (observe, obtain).
• vād — root · speak, utter
  Sanskrit √vac, Latin vox, English voice. The root sense of utterance or sound.
• ana — ending · action, state
  Nominalizing suffix forming action nouns (like -tion in English). Here it turns the verbal root into the act or state of speaking.

Analysis. abhi- (toward, bearing down on) + vādana (speaking, utterance, from √vad 'speak'). The concrete image is speech directed at someone in honour: one's words 'bear down' toward the honoured person in the act of respectful greeting.

Etymology. From abhi- 'toward, over' (Latin ob-) + √vad 'speak' (Sanskrit √vac; related to Latin vox, English voice). The prefix abhi- preserves its spatial sense of facing and approaching: speaking-toward becomes the respectful utterance of greeting or salutation.

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

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