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daṇḍanti

daṇḍa

masculine noun; nominative plural (daṇḍanti = daṇḍaṃ + iti)

1. stick; truncheon; nightstick; club
2. walking stick; staff
3. violence (towards); lit. stick
4. punishment; fine; penalty
5. (of a vīṇā) neck; lit. stick
6. Jain word for kamma; lit. stick
7. with a stick; having a handle

Built from

• daṇḍa — root · stick, strike
  The root carries the concrete image of a rod or staff used to strike; the noun expands this to the instrument itself and metonymically to punishment (the blow's consequence). Cognate with Sanskrit daṇḍa and Greek dent- (tooth, from the notion of something pointed that strikes).
• -m — ending · accusative singular
  Marks the object of the quotational 'iti' (as if in speech or thought).
• iti — root · thus, so, quotation marker
  Turns the preceding word into a quotation or attributive phrase, functioning as 'being/consisting of sticks' in context.

Analysis. daṇḍaṃ + iti, a quotational phrase: 'sticks' or 'punishment' (literally); used attributively or predicatively, 'being/consisting of sticks/punishment'.

Etymology. From Proto-Indo-European *dʰend- 'to strike, beat' (cognate with Sanskrit daṇḍa, Greek tithēmi 'place, strike', Latin defendere 'strike down'). The concrete image of the striking implement extends to punishment and coercion. Semantically parallel to Latin festuca 'rod, wand' used in symbolic punishment.

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

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