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dhanañjānī

dhanañjāni

masc nom pl of dhanañjāni (noun); masc acc pl of dhanañjāni (noun); masc voc pl of dhanañjāni (noun); fem nom sg of dhanañjānī (noun); …

1. dhanañjāni (masc): name of a Brahman; lit. depriving wealth
2. dhanañjānī (fem): name of a Brahman woman; lit. depriving wealth
3. dhanañjāni (masc): in reference to MN97 Dhanañjānisutta; lit. depriving wealth

Built from

• dhana — root · wealth
  From √dhan 'to hold, support'; the concrete sense 'what is held' becomes 'possessions, wealth'. Related to English thane (originally a landholder) and German Thane.
• ñjāni — ending · one who makes/born
  Agent noun from √jan 'to be born, to make, to produce'. Cognate with English kin, German Kind, Latin genus. In compounds, forms action nouns; here 'one who produces or causes' wealth.

Analysis. dhana (wealth) + ñjāni (from √jan, born/made), a compound meaning 'one who causes wealth to be born' or idiomatically 'one who deprives wealth'; the fem. dhanañjānī appears as a name in the canon.

Etymology. dhana 'wealth' (from √dhan 'to hold, support'; cognate with English thane, originally 'one who holds') + ñjāni agent noun from √jan 'to be born, to make' (cognate with English kin, German Kind, Latin genus). The name paradoxically suggests both enrichment and deprivation.

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

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