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majjhekalyāṇaṁ

majjhekāraṇaṁ or majjhesakhyo or majjheka

neuter accusative singular (or error for majjheka-); surface form shows contamination or scribal variation

1. middle-way path
2. mean or moderate course
3. middle doctrine

Built from

• majjhe — root · middle
  Locative form of majjha. The spatial sense 'in the middle' becomes doctrinal: the middle way between extremes is a cardinal Buddhist teaching.
• kalyāṇaṁ — stem · wholesome, beautiful
  Neuter accusative singular. kalyāṇa means 'auspicious, wholesome'; when predicated of the middle way, it emphasizes the Buddha's teaching as the 'good' or 'wholesome' doctrine.

Analysis. majjhe (locative of majjha, 'middle') + kalyāṇaṁ (neuter accusative of kalyāṇa, 'beautiful, wholesome, auspicious'). The phrase denotes the doctrine of the middle way as taught by the Buddha—avoidance of extremes (sensual indulgence and self-mortification). In compound formation, 'middle' (majjha-) qualifies the 'wholesome' or 'beautiful' (kalyāṇa-).

Etymology. majjha derives from PIE *medhyo- (middle); cognates include Sanskrit madhya, Latin medius, English mid. kalyāṇaṁ from a root meaning 'to call out, invoke' (whence 'well-called', hence 'excellent'): see Sanskrit kalyāṇa.

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

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