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sāriputtassa

sāriputta

masc dat sg of sāriputta (noun); masc gen sg of sāriputta (noun)

1. name of an arahant monk; chief disciple; great disciple of the Buddha; foremost monk in great wisdom; lit. son of Sāri

Built from

• sāri — root · Sāri (woman's name)
  A personal name, possibly derived from a plant name; used here as the first element of a patronymic.
• putta — root · son
  Sanskrit putra, from Indo-European *pew- 'to swell, generate'. The diminutive -ka ending (seen in Sanskrit putrika) is absent in Pali; putta stands alone. Denotes male offspring and, in compounds, kinship by patronymic or matronymic descent.

Analysis. sāri + putta: 'son of Sāri' (a woman's name). Sāri is a feminine personal name (possibly from sāri 'a type of plant'); putta means 'son', so the compound denotes kinship by the mother's name, a common Indian naming pattern.

Etymology. putta derives from puttar- (Sanskrit putra), from Indo-European *pew- 'to swell, generate' (English kin by sense 'offspring'). The name Sāriputta became synonymous with supreme wisdom in the tradition because Sāriputta was renowned as the Buddha's foremost disciple in learning and analytical insight.

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

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