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pajāpatiṁ

pajāpati

accusative singular masculine of pajāpati (noun)

1. lord of creatures
2. creator; Brahmā
3. in the canon, often the goddess Pajāpatī (Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, the Buddha's aunt and first bhikkhuṇī)

Built from

• pa — prefix · forth, forward
  Intensifying prefix that extends the sense of generation outward and forth into manifestation.
• jāpati — stem · generator, one who brings forth
  Derived from √jā (to be born, generate) with agentive suffix -pati (lord, one who). The root √jā is cognate with Latin gignere and English kin.

Analysis. pa- (forward, forth) + jāpati (one who generates). The compound shows that pajāpati is fundamentally 'one who brings forth/generates creatures', a creator figure. In the Pali canon, the term is used both for the Vedic Brahmā and for the historical bhikkhuṇī Mahāpajāpatī, whose name borrows the mythological title.

Etymology. Root √jā (to be born, to generate; cognate with Latin gignere, genus, English kin, genus). The prefix pa- (forth, forward) intensifies: 'one who puts forth'. In Vedic cosmology, Prajāpati is the primordial creator god; in Buddhism, the term is redeployed for the historical figure Mahāpajāpatī.

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

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