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dhammadesanāyāti

dhammadesanā

feminine nominative, with iti (quotative marker)

1. Dhamma talk; teaching the Dhamma

Built from

• dhamma — root · teaching, law
  From Sanskrit dharma; ultimately from PIE *dher- 'to hold, support'. The concept crystallized in early Buddhist Sanskrit as the Buddha's doctrine.
• desanā — stem · showing, exposition
  Derived from √dis 'to show, point out' (cognate with Greek deiktikos, Latin dicere). The feminine -ā nominalization denotes the action of teaching.
• -ya — ending · instrumental
  Marks the instrumental case singular, positioning the Dhamma-teaching as the means or frame through which the utterance is made.
• iti — prefix · thus, quotative
  An indeclinable particle that marks reported speech or introduces a saying. Common in Buddhist texts to frame teachings and doctrinal statements.

Analysis. dhammadesanāya + iti: dhammadesanāya (instrumental singular of dhammadesanā) + iti (quotative particle 'thus, saying'). The phrase marks reported speech or introduces a saying about the Dhamma talk.

Etymology. dhammadesanā is a Sanskrit loanword compound: dhamma (Pali form of Sanskrit dharma, 'law, teaching') + desanā (from √dis 'to show, point out', cognate with Greek deiktikos 'showing'). The instrumental dhammadesanāya with iti is a standard frame for citation: 'by way of the Dhamma-teaching, thus'.

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

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