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kulaputtānaṁ

kulaputta

genitive plural masculine of kulaputta

1. family/clan member
2. son of a good family
3. disciple (in Buddhist contexts)

Built from

• kula — root · family, clan
  Concrete sense of a shared dwelling or cultivated household; related to Latin colere 'to dwell, cultivate'.
• putta — root · son, boy
  A young male or offspring; related to Sanskrit putra and distantly to English foot as a 'shoot' or 'sprout'.
• ānaṁ — ending · genitive plural
  Marks the plural possessive or partitive case (of/for these), used here to indicate a group of family members or disciples.

Analysis. kula- (family, clan) + putta (son); often used in the canon to describe the Buddha's disciples as members of the spiritual family

Etymology. kula- is cognate with Latin colere (to cultivate, dwell) and English hill (originally a dwelling place); putta (son) is cognate with Sanskrit putra and ultimately with English foot/Latin pes (a young shoot, offspring)

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

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