‹ Back to the text

bahussuto

bahussuta

masc nom sg of bahussuta (adj); masc nom sg of bahussuta (noun)

1. very learned; well educated; knowledgeable; lit. much heard
2. well learned monk; knowledgeable man; lit. much heard

Built from

• bahu — root · much, many
  Descriptive root expressing multiplicity; Sanskrit cognate bahu-, also related to Greek polýs 'many' (though through different Indo-European branches). Concrete sense: a heap or bundle.
• su — prefix · well, good
  Intensifies or marks the quality positively. Cognate with Greek eu- (as in eulogy) from the same Indo-European root *su- 'good'.
• ta — ending · past participle
  Masculine nominative singular form of the past participle, marking suta as an adjective agreeing with the understood masculine noun (monk or man). Bahussuta is often used predicatively or attributively to describe one possessed of learning.

Analysis. bahú (much) + suta (heard, learned); literally 'much heard', i.e. one who has heard (studied) much of the teachings.

Etymology. From bahú 'much' (Sanskrit bahu, related to English 'bag' and Latin 'baculum' in the sense of 'bundle', though the connection is remote; more directly cognate with Greek pollós) + suta, the past participle of √śru (hear, listen). The root √śru appears in Sanskrit śruta- 'heard, learned', and is cognate with English 'shrew' (one who discerns by listening) and Latin 'cruentus' (stained, hence 'marked by'); the semantic path from 'hearing' to 'learning' is direct. Bahussuta embodies the canonical ideal of the learned monk, one whose knowledge comes from faithful hearing of the Dhamma.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version