orig. meaning “tube,” container, hollow pocket.

1. a container, usually made of leaves (cp Ja.iv.436; Ja.v.441; Ja.vi.236), to carry fruit or other viands a pocket, basket: ucchu˚; basket for sugar Ja.iv.363 paṇṇa˚; leaf-basket Pv-a.168; phala˚; fruit basket Ja.iv.436 = Ja.vi.236; phānita(ssa)˚; basket of molasses sugar-basket SN.i.175 (KS.: jar); Ja.iv.366; Dhp-a.iv.232 mālā˚; basket for garlands or flowers Dhp-a.iii.212 (baddha made, lit. bound). In puṭa-baddha-kummāsa Vv-a.308 perhaps meaning “cup.”
2. a bag or sack, usually referring to food carried for a journey, thus “knapsack” (or directly “provisions,” taking the container for what it contains DN-a.i.288 puts puṭaṃsa pātheyya), in bhatta˚; bag with provisions Ja.ii.82 (with bandhati), Ja.ii.203; Ja.iii.200; DN-a.i.270. Also at Ja.iv.375 “bag” (tamba-kipillaka˚). See below ˚aṃsa ˚bhatta.
3. a tube, hollow, in; nāsā˚; (nāsa˚) nostril Ja.vi.74; Vism.195, Vism.263, Vism.362; Kp-a.65; hattha˚; the hollow of the hand Mil.87; vatthi˚; bladder(-bag Vism.264; sippi- puṭa oyster shell Ja.v.197, Ja.v.206. puṭaṃ karoti to form a hollow Vb-a.34.
4. box, container see ˚*bheda* & ˚bhedana, in pāṭali-puṭa seed box for the P. flower.

-aṃsa “bag-shoulder” (for “shoulder-bag,” cp aṃsapuṭa (assapuṭa) & Ger. rucksack = knapsack Rightly expl^d by Bdhgh at DN-a.i.288), a bag carrying provisions on journeys, hence “provision,” in phrase puṭaṃsena with provisions (variant reading at all places puṭosena DN.i.117; MN.iii.80; AN.ii.183; cp. Dialogues i.150; see also mutoḷī
■ pāka something cooked in a bag (like a meal-pudding) Vism.500. -baddha kind of moccasins Vin.i.186, see Vin. Texts ii.15. Spelt puṭa-bandha at Vism.251 = Vb-a.234. -bhatta “bag-food,” viaticum provisions for journey Ja.ii.423; Kp-a.46. -bheda the breaking of the container (i.e. seed boxes of the Sirīsa plant) Vv-a.344 (in vatthu where Sirīsa refers to Pāṭaliputta cp. Vv.84^{52, 53}). -bhedana breaking of the (seed-) boxes of the Pāṭali plant, referring primarily to the Name of Pāṭali-putta, where putta represents a secondary Pālisation of Sk. ˚putra which again represents P (or Non-Aryan) puṭa (see Pischel, Prk. Gr. § 238 292). Through popular etym. a wrong conception of the expression arose, which took puṭa in the sense of “wares, provisions, merchandise” (perhaps influenced by puṭaṃsa) and, based on C. on Ud.88 (bhaṇḍakānaṃ mocara-ṭṭhānaṃ vuttaṃ hoti) gave rise to the (wrong translation Dial. ii.92 “a centre for interchange of all kinds of wares.” See also Mil translation i.2; Buddh. Suttas xvi
■ Vin.i.229 = DN.ii.87 = Ud.88. After the example of Pāṭaliputta applied to the city of Sāgala at Mil.1 (nānā-puṭa-bhedanaṃ S˚ nagaraṃ). Here clearly meant for “merchandise.”-Rh. D. in a note on puṭabhedana gives explⁿ “a town at the confluence or bend of a river” (cp. Jaina Sūtras 2, 451).

etym. unknown, prob. dialectical, as shown by Name of Pāṭaliputta, where putta = puṭa since unfamiliar in origin