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saṁyojanānaṁ

saṁyojana

genitive plural of saṁyojana (m./n.)

1. fetter, bond (spiritual obstacle)
2. connection, linking

Built from

• saṁ — prefix · together, with
  Things brought into one; the concrete image of yoking or binding is carried into the metaphor of karmic fetters.
• yoj — root · yoke, join, bind
  Cognate with English yoke, Latin iugum, Greek zygon. In doctrinal use, the bonds that link past karma to present life.
• ana — ending · action noun
  Forms agent nouns and action nouns; here marks saṁyojana as the act or result of binding.
• ānaṁ — ending · genitive plural
  Marks the word as plural possessive or partitive, typical in lists like "the ten fetters (fetters-of)".

Analysis. saṁ + yojana: saṁ- (together) + √yuj (yoke, join) + -ana (action noun). The compound denotes the bonds that bind beings together in saṁsāra, particularly the ten fetters (dasa saṁyojanāni) in doctrinal lists: the fetters of self-view, doubt, attachment to rules, sensual desire, malice, desire for fine-form existence, desire for formless existence, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance.

Etymology. √yuj (yoke, join) is cognate with English yoke, Latin iugum, Greek zygon, Sanskrit yuj. The prefix saṁ- (together) gives the sense of binding-together; spatial imagery of yoking animals together becomes the doctrinal image of karmic chains holding beings in cyclic existence.

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

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