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ohitabhāro

ohitabhāra

masc nom sg of ohitabhāra (adj)

1. who has put down the burden; who has laid down the load; epithet of an arahant

Built from

• o/ava — prefix · down, off
  Prefix indicating downward motion or removal. Cognate with English off, Latin aufero 'carry off'.
• hita — stem · placed, put
  Past participle of ohīyati; from √hī/hā 'to place or put'. The root carries the sense of intentional action.
• bhāra — root · burden, load
  From √bhar 'to bear, carry'; cognate with English bear, Latin ferre (in transfer, fertile). Concrete sense of physical weight becomes the metaphorical weight of suffering.

Analysis. ohita (past participle of ohīyati, 'placed down') + bhāra ('burden, load'). The compound describes one who has set aside the burden of suffering and the five aggregates.

Etymology. ohīyati is ava + √hī (or √hā, 'to place'); ava- means 'down' (English off, Latin aufero). bhāra derives from √bhar (Sanskrit bhṛ, 'to bear, carry'), cognate with English bear, Latin ferre (transfer, fertile). The spatial imagery of laying down (ava-) merges with the load carried: the arahant has set the burden aside entirely.

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

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