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sapattabhārova

sapattabhāra

adjective; nominative singular masculine with enclitic eva (emphatic particle)

1. carrying only one's wings; carrying only one's feathers

Built from

• sa — prefix · with, together
  Cognate with English 'same' and Sanskrit sama; here it means 'one's own' in the sense of 'together with oneself'.
• patta — stem · wing, feather
  Sanskrit patra; ultimately from Indo-European *pet- (to spread, fly), giving Latin penna and English feather.
• bhāra — stem · burden, weight, load
  From √bhar (to carry, bear), cognate with Greek pherō, Latin ferre, English bear.
• eva — ending · indeed, just (emphatic)
  Enclitic particle emphasizing the preceding word; attaches to the nominative form sapattabhāro.

Analysis. sapattabhāro (nom. sg. masc. of sapattabhāra) + eva (emphatic particle 'indeed, just'). The compound sapattabhāra itself breaks into sa- (with) + patta (wing, feather) + bhāra (burden, weight), meaning 'bearing/carrying one's wings as a burden'.

Etymology. Patta is cognate with Sanskrit patra, ultimately from the root *pet- (to spread, fly), which gives Latin penna (feather) and English feather. The prefix sa- means 'with, together' (from *som-, cognate with English same and Sanskrit sama). Bhāra (burden) derives from √bhar (to carry, bear), cognate with Greek pherō, Latin ferre, English bear. The phrase denotes a bird carrying only its own plumage—a figure for travelling light or self-reliance.

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

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