Buddha (Sanskrit: बुद्ध) refers to one who has achieved enlightenment and Buddhahood, and has fully comprehended the Four Noble Truths. Contemporary, the term refers to Siddharta Gautama, the teacher and founder of Buddhism, who is simply known as "the Buddha". The term also refers to others who have achieved enlightenment and Buddhahood, such as the 27 Buddhas who preceded Gautama, Amitābha and the future Buddha, Maitreya.
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Etymology
The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age.
Hypothetical root budh "perceive" 1. Pali buddha – "understood, enlightened", masculine "the Buddha"; Aśokan (the language of the Inscriptions of Aśoka) Budhe nominative singular; Prakrit buddha – ‘ known, awakened ’; Waigalī būdāī, "truth"; Bashkarīk budh "he heard"; Tōrwālī būdo preterite of bū, "to see, know" from bṓdhati; Phalūṛa búddo preterite of buǰǰ , "to understand" from búdhyatē; Shina Gilgitī dialect budo, "awake"; Gurēsī dialect budyōnṷ intransitive "to wake"; Kashmiri bọ̆du, "quick of understanding (especially of a child)"; Sindhī ḇudho, past participle (passive) of ḇujhaṇu, "to understand" from búdhyatē, West Pahāṛī buddhā, preterite of bujṇā, "to know"; Sinhalese buj (j written for d), budu, bud, but, "the Buddha".
Buddhavamsa named 25 Buddhas including Gautama in section three until twenty seven, while the twenty eight section lists three Buddhas who lived before the time of Dipankara Buddha.
Indo-European
The term is mirrored in various Indo-European languages with a common Root/Stem: *bheud- and meanings: to be awaken. Cognates: Hellenic Greek peuthomai 'I learn' Celtic Old Irish buide 'gratitude', Welsh bodd 'free will', Cornish both 'will' Indic Sanskrit bodhayati 'he wakes' Iranian Avestan baodayeiti 'he teaches' Germanic Common Germanic *biudan, *budan 'to ask, to offer' Gothic anabiudan 'to order', farbiudan 'to forbid', Old High German biotan 'to offer', Old Norse bjóða, Old English béodan, Old Saxon biodan 'to offer' Baltic Lithuanian bude.ti 'to awake', bunda 'he is awaken', busti 'to wake up', Latin bauslis 'free gift', Old Prussian budé 'they are awaken', etbaudints 'cheerful' Common Slavic *buditi < *bheud- 'to wake', *bude.ti < *budh- 'to be awaken' Russian bdet' 'to be awaken', Bulgarian bd'a 'I am awaken', Czech & Serbo-Croatian bdim, Slovene buditi 'to wake up', Polish budzic', Lower Sorbian buz'is'.