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bhassappavādako

bhassappavādaka

masc nom sg of bhassappavādaka (noun)

1. debater; orator; public speaker; lit. debating speech

Built from

• bhassa — root · debate, speech
  From √bhās (speak, shine); the word concretely denotes the speech exchange itself, treating utterance as utterance.
• pa — prefix · forward, forth
  The prefix forward-forth, marking utterance that steps ahead; here merged with √vad (speak).
• vāda — stem · speech, utterance
  Derived from √vad (speak); cognate with Sanskrit vāda and Latin vox (voice). The stem denotes the act or manner of speaking.
• ka — ending · agent suffix
  Marks the agent noun; the -ka suffix derives one who performs the action (pavādaka = one who speaks forth).

Analysis. bhassa + pavādaka, a compound noun: bhassa (debate, discussion, verbal exchange) + pavādaka (speaker, one who utters), literally 'one who speaks debate'.

Etymology. bhassa derives from √bhās (to speak, shine; cognate with Sanskrit bhās-, English 'blaze' via the root's sense of utterance making something visible); pavādaka from pā + √vad (speak), where pa- is the prefix 'forward, forth' and √vad means 'speak' (cognate with Sanskrit vad-, Latin vox 'voice'). The compound thus shows 'forth-speaking' applied to debate.

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

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