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mahāsāvajjataraṁ

mahāsāvajjatara

accusative singular neuter of mahāsāvajjatara (comparative adjective); possibly a scribal error for mahāsāvajjataraṁ, treating it as an adverbial accusative or nominative (comparative forms sometimes show conflation)

1. greatly blameworthy
2. more seriously culpable
3. highly discreditable

Built from

• mahā — prefix · great
  Combining form of maha, meaning largeness or intensity. Cognate with English 'much' and Latin 'magnus'.
• sa — prefix · with, together
  Indicates association or presence; here fuses with the root to form sāvajja 'with fault'.
• vaja/vañj — root · bend, go wrong, fault
  Root √vañj means to bend or turn away from the right path; here it yields the sense of culpability and moral deviation.
• -tara — ending · more, comparative
  Comparative suffix forming an adjective indicating greater degree; here 'more blameworthy'. The -ṁ ending marks accusative singular neuter in Pali inflection.

Analysis. mahā- 'great' + sāvajja- 'blameworthy, culpable' + -tara (comparative suffix); sā-vaja literally 'with-fault', from sa- 'with' + vaja (root √vañj 'bend, turn, go wrong')

Etymology. mahā is the combining form of maha 'great' (cognate with English much, Latin magnus); sāvajja is sa- 'with' + √vañj 'go wrong, be crooked' (related Sanskrit vyañjanate 'is manifest, bends'); the comparative -tara builds on a notion of degree and intensity shared across Indo-European (Latin -or in maior, comparative of magnus).

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

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