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bhagavāti

bhagavant

masculine nominative singular in nominal appositional use (vocative sense: 'O Blessed One')

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

• bhaga — root · fortune, auspiciousness
  Derived from √bhaj 'to divide, allot'; the sense of 'a portion' became 'good fortune' or 'what falls to one's lot'. Related to Sanskrit bhaga and cognate with the notion of distribution and blessing.
• vant — ending · having, possessing
  Participial suffix forming adjectives meaning 'having' or 'endowed with'. Cognate with Latin -ventus and English -want. Here it makes bhagavant 'one having fortune'.
• iti — ending · [quotative particle]
  Marks the preceding word as a name, title, or utterance; used in appositional constructions and direct address to set off vocatives and proper nouns.

Analysis. bhagavā + iti; nominalized form of bhagavant (having-fortune) used in direct address or appellation. The -iti marks the word as a name or title in discourse.

Etymology. bhagavant from bhaga 'fortune, share, prosperity' + vant 'having, possessing' (suffix forming adjectives). Bhaga is related to Sanskrit bhaga and ultimately to Sanskrit bhaj 'to divide, allot, share' (√bhaj), which underlies the sense of 'a portion that falls to one's lot'—hence 'good fortune' or 'auspicious portion'. The -vant suffix is productive in Indo-European (cognate with English -want in 'wanton', and with Latin -ventus); it means 'having' or 'possessing'. The epithet bhagavant applied to the Buddha captures the sense of one who possesses supreme auspiciousness or the fullness of good fortune.

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

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