‹ Back to the text

bhagavā

bhagavant

masc nom sg of bhagavant (noun); masc nom pl of bhagavant (noun); masc voc sg of bhagavant (noun); masc nom sg of bhagavant (adj); …

1. bhagavant (masc): Sublime One; Blessed One; Fortunate One; Auspicious One; epithet of the Buddha; lit. having good fortune quality
2. bhagavant (adj): fortunate; lit. having good fortune quality
3. bhagavā (masc): Sublime One; Blessed One; Fortunate One; epithet of the Buddha

Built from

• bhag — root · share, distribute
  From PIE *bheg- 'to distribute, share'. Implies the sense of 'fortune' as something apportioned or allotted to one.
• -avant — ending · having, possessing
  Possessive suffix -van/-vant. Renders the root nominal, meaning 'one who has/possesses' the quality of sharing or blessing.

Analysis. bhag- (root meaning 'to share, divide, apportion') + -avant (having, possessing suffix); literally 'one who possesses fortune or a share of blessing'; in canonical usage bhagavā or bhagavant is the standard respectful address for the Buddha.

Etymology. From bhag-, 'to share out, distribute' (Sanskrit bhaj-), cognate with English 'back' (a share given back) and Latin fagus 'beech' (from the mast it distributes); -avant is a possessive suffix (-van, -vant) meaning 'having'. The word's primary sense was 'fortunate, blessed', applied honorifically to deities and teachers, and in Buddhism became the established epithet of Gotama Buddha.

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

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