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bhaginiyā
bhaginī
fem instr sg of bhaginī (noun); fem dat sg of bhaginī (noun); fem abl sg of bhaginī (noun); fem gen sg of bhaginī (noun); …
- sister
- respectful address to a woman; lit. sister
Built from
- bhag- — root · share, portion
Concrete sense of dividing or apportioning; in family terms, one who shares in the household and inheritance. Related to PIE *bʰag- 'to divide'.
- -in- — stem · having, possessor
Agent suffix forming feminine nouns from roots; here 'one who has (shares in) the family portion'.
- -ī — ending · feminine singular
Marks the feminine singular form (nominative stem); -ā in nom sg, -ī in oblique cases like the instr/dat/abl/gen shown here.
- -ā — ending · instrumental/dative/ablative/genitive
This specific surface form bhaginiyā shows the feminine singular oblique ending used for instrumental ('with/by the sister'), dative ('to the sister'), ablative ('from the sister'), and genitive ('of the sister') cases in Pali's syncretistic inflection.
Etymology. From bhaga- 'share, portion' (Sanskrit bhaga-, from PIE *bʰag- 'to divide, apportion'), with the feminine suffix -inī. The notion of 'sister' derives from 'one who shares the family portion'. Cognate with Sanskrit bhaginī; the root bhaga- is related to English 'bake' (to divide dough) and Sanskrit bhajati 'to share, distribute'.