‹ Back to the text

kāyadaṇḍaṁ

kāyadaṇḍa

accusative singular masculine of kāyadaṇḍa (noun)

1. bodily punishment
2. physical chastisement
3. corporal penalty

Built from

• kāya — root · body
  From √ku, the crooked or bent form; the physical body as a flexible frame.
• daṇḍa — root · punishment, rod
  A stick or rod, and by extension any punishment or penalty, especially striking or beating.
• m — ending · accusative singular
  Masculine accusative ending marks the direct object of a transitive verb (e.g., 'inflicts kāyadaṇḍaṁ').

Analysis. Compound: kāya (body) + daṇḍa (punishment, rod, stick). A punishment inflicted on the body as opposed to verbal or banishment.

Etymology. kāya from √ku "to be crooked" (related to Latin curvus "curved"); daṇḍa from a root meaning "to strike, punish" (cognate with Latin dōmāre "to tame"). The compound is formed descriptively: punishment administered via the body.

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

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