bhadanta
Bhadanta，（Bhaddanta） [a secondary adj．formation from address bhaddaṁ （=bhadraṁ） te “hail to thee，＂ cp．“bhaddaṁ vo＂ under bhadda 1] venerable，reverend．mostly in Voc．as address “Sir，holy father＂ etc．，to men of the Order．Voc．sg．bhadante S．I，216 （v．l．bhaddante）; Voc．pl．bhadantā DhA．III，414．-- A contracted form of bhadante is bhante （q．v．）．Note．In case of bhadanta being the corresp．of Sk．*bhavanta （for bhavān） we would suppose the change v›d and account for dd on grounds of pop．analogy after bhadda．See bhante．The pl．Nom．from bhadantā is formed after bhadante，which was felt as a Voc．of an a --stem with --e for --a as in Prk．Māgadhī．（Page 497）