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bhotā

bhavant

masc instr sg of bhavant (noun); masc abl sg of bhavant (noun)

1. bhavant (masc): master; sir; respected man; lit. being present
2. bhotā (masc): by sir; with master

Built from

• bhav — root · be, become
  The root of existence and becoming in Buddhist philosophy. Cognate with English 'be', Germanic 'bin', Latin 'fui' (to have been).
• a — prefix · toward
  The ā- prefix (simplified to a- before consonants in some contexts) reverses or directs the sense of becoming toward the speaker or into presence.
• nt — ending · present participle
  The -ant ending marks a present participle: 'one who is being', here substantivized as a respectful address for someone of standing or authority.

Etymology. bhavant is the present participle of bhavati (to be, become), formed with the -ant suffix. The concrete sense is 'one who is present' or 'one who is being', generalized to a respectful form of address. Sanskrit bhavant, from the same root as bhavati, shows the same formation. The root bhavati is cognate with English 'be' and German 'bin', both from the Indo-European root *bʰeu- (to grow, exist).

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

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