devadattoti

devadatta

masculine; nominative singular + iti (quotation particle)

name of a monk; relative and nemesis of the Buddha

Built from

deva — root · god
From PIE *deiwos 'shining one', cognate with Latin deus and English divine. The word retains its original sense of a celestial being.
datta — stem · given
Past participle of dadāti 'gives' (√dā), from PIE *deh₃ 'to place or give'. Used here as a nominal adjective in the compound.
o — ending · nominative masculine singular
Standard masculine nominative singular ending; marks the compound as the grammatical subject.
iti — prefix · thus, so
Quotation particle or nominalizing marker; originally 'in this way', it introduces cited speech or converts the proper name into reported discourse.

Analysis. devadatto (deva + datta) + iti; 'given by/to the gods' or 'gift-giver to gods'; iti marks the name as cited speech or introduces a nominalized sense.

Etymology. Compound of deva 'god' (< PIE *deiwos, cognate with Latin deus, Eng. divine) and datta 'given' (past participle of dadāti 'gives', < PIE *deh₃ 'put, place'). The name is typically interpreted as 'gift [given] to the gods' or 'god-given', a common name pattern; it became historically bound to the Buddha's troublesome cousin.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version