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mahapphalanti

mahapphala

adjective, nominative singular masculine (or distributive/gerundive form with -iti)

1. of great fruit; yielding good results

Built from

• mahā — root · great, much
  From √mah-, meaning to enlarge or extend; the concrete sense 'big' is the foundation for abstract 'much' or 'weighty'. Cognates: English much, Latin magnus, Greek mega-.
• pphala — root · fruit, result, benefit
  From √phal- 'to bear or produce'; the physical fruit of a tree becomes the metaphorical fruit of an action (result, benefit, karmic fruit). Related to English fall and Latin fallō 'come forth'.

Analysis. mahā + pphala, from mahant- 'great' + phala 'fruit'; the doubling of p is Pali sandhi assimilation (mahā ends in a, pphala begins with ph).

Etymology. mahā (great) from √mah- 'to make great', cognate with English much, Greek mega-, Latin magnus. Phala (fruit, result, benefit) is from √phal- 'to bear, produce', ultimately from the same Indo-European root as English fall (things that fall from trees) and Latin fallō (come forth).

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

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