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tiṇabhakkho

tiṇabhakkha

masc nom sg of tiṇabhakkha (adj)

1. feeding on grass

Built from

• tiṇa — root · grass
  From tan- 'to spread'; grass spreads and covers ground. Sanskrit cognate tṛṇa.
• bhakkha — stem · eating, food
  Past participle of bhakkhati 'to eat', from root bhaj- 'to share, distribute, partake'. The -a ending marks the adjective stem in masculine form.

Analysis. tiṇa (grass) + bhakkha (eating, food); a dvandva compound denoting one who eats grass. The second element bhakkha is a past participle of bhakkhati 'to eat'.

Etymology. tiṇa is from the root tan- 'to spread, stretch' (grass spreads over ground); cognate with Sanskrit tṛṇa. bhakkha derives from the root bhaj- 'to share, eat' (Sanskrit bhaj-), which is unrelated to English 'bake' despite surface similarity. The compound describes an animal that feeds on herbage, common in both Vedic and Pali literature.

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

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