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mahāmoggallānena

mahāmoggallāna

masc instr sg of mahāmoggallāna (noun)

1. name of an arahant monk; chief disciple; great disciple of the Buddha; foremost monk in psychic power; lit. great descendent of Muggala

Built from

• mahā — prefix · great
  From PIE *meg- (great), same root as English mighty and Latin magnus. Used as an intensifying prefix and also as an independent adjective meaning large or superior.
• moggallāna — root · descendant of Muggala
  A patronymic proper noun derived from the family name Muggala with the suffix -āna (belonging to, descended from). Muggala is itself a Brahminical family name of non-Indo-European origin.

Analysis. mahā (great) + moggallāna (descendant of Muggala); a patronymic: moggallāna derives from Muggala (a Brahminical family name), with the suffix -āna marking descent or belonging.

Etymology. mahā is from PIE *meg- (great; cognate with English mighty, Latin magnus). Moggallāna is a patronymic from the family name Muggala, likely a proper noun of Brahminical origin with no transparent Pali etymology; the -āna suffix marks descent (as in gotama from gota-, kaccāna from kacca-).

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

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