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mahāsāvajjaṁ

mahāsāvajja

accusative singular neuter of mahāsāvajja (adjective)

1. greatly blameworthy
2. seriously reprehensible
3. a grave offense

Built from

• mahā — prefix · great, much
  Intensifying prefix from √mah- 'be great'. Used to amplify the moral weight of an action.
• sa — prefix · with, together
  Unites the root with the sense of participation or association; here 'accompanied by fault'.
• vajj — root · blame, fault
  The conceptual root for culpability. From √vaj- meaning to find fault with or blame.
• a — ending · nominative/accusative neuter
  Marks the adjective in its base form. The accusative -ṁ ending follows in this surface form.

Analysis. mahā + sāvajja: mahā 'great' (intensive prefix) + sāvajja 'blameworthy, culpable' (from sa- 'with' + avajja 'blame, fault'). The compound intensifies the sense of culpability.

Etymology. sāvajja derives from sa- 'with' + avajja (from √vaj- 'blame'). Mahā- is from Proto-Indo-European *meg- 'great', cognate with English 'much', Latin magnus, Greek mega-. The notion of blame or fault underlies the moral classification of actions in Buddhist ethics.

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

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