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guttadvārā

guttadvāra

masc nom pl of guttadvāra (adj); fem nom sg of guttadvāra (adj); fem nom pl of guttadvāra (adj); nt nom pl of guttadvāra (adj); …

1. guarding the doors (of); with self-restraint (in); protecting the mind (wrt); lit. guarded doors

Built from

• gutta — stem · guarded, protected
  Past participle of gujjhati (√gudh 'hide'), used attributively. The image is of something shut in or concealed.
• dvāra — stem · doors, gates
  From √dṝ 'pass through'; the concrete image of doors as entry points to the mind or senses, which restraint keeps closed.

Analysis. gutta (guarded, past participle of gujjhati 'to hide, guard') + dvāra (doors). The compound expresses the Buddhist practice of sense-door restraint (indriya-saṁvara), where the mental faculties are protected as if doors were kept closed against intruders.

Etymology. gutta: from √gudh 'to hide, cover' (cognate with English 'good' in the sense of 'fit, suitable', and Latin 'cudere' in the sense of 'to strike inward'); dvāra: from √dṝ 'to pass through, traverse' (cognate with English 'door', German 'Tür', Sanskrit 'dvāra', all from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- 'passage, doorway'). The prefix sense is lost here, but the root imagery persists: doors as guardians of passage.

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

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