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veḷuvane

veḷuvana

nt acc pl of veḷuvana (noun); nt loc sg of veḷuvana (noun)

1. name of a park outside Rājagaha; lit. bamboo forest

Built from

• veḷu — root · bamboo
  A plant name of uncertain Indo-European connection; bamboo is not native to Europe, so the root may be a substratum word or a borrowing into Pali.
• vana — root · forest
  From PIE *u̯en- (to desire, love, drawn inward), as a place that draws one in; cognate with English 'ween' and Latin 'vēnus'. Forests are refuge and attraction.

Analysis. veḷu (bamboo) + vana (forest); a compound denoting a forest of bamboo trees, which became the name of a well-known park where the Buddha taught.

Etymology. veḷu is of uncertain origin but may be related to Sanskrit velu- (bamboo); vana (forest) descends from Proto-Indo-European *u̯en- (desire, love — that which draws one in), cognate with English 'ween' and Latin 'venus'. The compound is transparently a place-name formed from common nouns.

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

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