Bhadanta & Bhaddanta

venerable, reverend mostly in voc. as address “Sir, holy father” etc., to men of the Order. voc. sg. bhadante SN.i.216 (variant reading bhaddante); voc. pl. bhadantā Dhp-a.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.

a secondary adj. formation from address bhaddaṃ (= bhadraṃ) te “hail to thee,” cp “bhaddaṃ vo” under bhadda 1