‹ Back to the text

nigrodhārāme

nigrodhārāma

masc acc pl of nigrodhārāma (noun); masc loc sg of nigrodhārāma (noun)

1. name of a park in Kapilavatthu; lit. banyan park

Built from

• ni — prefix · down, into
  Locative prefix indicating the downward or inward character of the tree's roots and establishment in the earth.
• grodha — root · banyan tree
  A non-Aryan word, the Pali name for Ficus benghalensis; the form is ancient and shared with Sanskrit nigrodha.
• ārāma — stem · park, garden
  From √ram (to rest, be pleased); literally a place of rest or delight. Cognate with English realm and suggesting a locus amoenus in Sanskrit literature.

Analysis. nigrodha (banyan tree) + ārāma (park, garden): a park or grove planted with banyan trees, famous in the suttas as a meeting place near the Buddha's birthplace.

Etymology. nigrodha is an old Indic tree-name, attested in Sanskrit and likely from a pre-Aryan source; ārāma derives from √ram (to rest, delight), cognate with English realm (originally a possession one held and rested in) and Latin arma via the sense of a place one finds pleasant or takes pleasure in.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version