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daddulabhakkho

daddulabhakkha

masc nom sg of daddulabhakkha (adj)

1. feeding on hide scrapings

Built from

• daddula — root · hide scrapings
  A contemptuous or reductive term for leather scraps or refuse; may be reduplicative (dala + dala) or onomatopoetic, expressing something broken into small, worthless pieces.
• bhakkha — stem · food, feeding
  Derived from √bhaj 'to share, partake, eat'. The stem forms the second member of a possessive compound (tatpuruṣa), meaning 'that which one eats' or 'one's sustenance'.

Analysis. daddula + bhakkha; daddula is a diminutive or contemptuous term for hide scrapings or leather fragments; bhakkha (from √bhaj, 'to share, partake') means 'food' or 'what one feeds on'. The compound describes an ascetic or animal that sustains itself on such lowly refuse.

Etymology. daddula is a reduplicative or onomatopoetic formation (cf. Sanskrit dala 'petal, fragment'), suggesting small worthless pieces; bhakkha derives from the root √bhaj (Sanskrit bhaj-), 'to share, allot, eat', cognate with Greek phagein 'to eat' and English 'to hack' (in the sense of breaking into fragments). Together, the term evokes subsistence on the humblest scraps.

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

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