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vanamūlaphalāhāro

vanamūlaphalāhāra

masc nom sg of vanamūlaphalāhāra (adj)

1. eating roots and fruits of the forest

Built from

• vana — root · forest
  The Indo-European *wod-no- (wooded place). Related to English wood, German Wald. The forest as wilderness where ascetics live apart.
• mūla — root · root
  From Indo-European *muəl- (to grind, to stand firm). Related to Latin mōles, Greek mýlon. The root as the part of a plant that stands firm and nourishes.
• phala — root · fruit
  Pali/Sanskrit native root, not cognate with European languages. The fruit as the ripened product of a tree, food for ascetics.
• āhāra — stem · food, eating
  From √hṛ (to take, carry); cognate with Latin gerere, English gird. The compound āhāra means what is taken or carried as nourishment.

Analysis. A compound of vana (forest) + mūla (root) + phala (fruit) + āhāra (food, eating). The compound describes one who sustains themselves on forest produce: the roots and fruits that grow wild.

Etymology. Each element is Indo-European: vana- is cognate with English wood and German Wald (from *wod-no-, forest); mūla (root) connects to Latin mōlēs and Greek mýlon (mill, grinding), the root as what is ground or what stands firm; phala (fruit) is unrelated to European languages but indigenous to Sanskrit and Pali; āhāra (eating, food) derives from the root √hṛ (to take, carry), cognate with Latin gerere and English gird.

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

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