Etymology

“Senior monk who holds the precepts-granting ceremony; preceptor” > “high priest; head monk” > “Buddhist monks in general”. First attested in the 3^rd–4^th centuries, as 和上.

Borrowed from Prakrit uvajjhāa, uajjhāa, ujjhāa, ojjhāa, ojhāa, ujjhā, ujjha (“teacher; religious teacher”), all ultimately derived from Sanskrit उपाध्याय ‎(upādhyāya, “teacher; preceptor; spiritual adviser”) (Chu, 2002). The use of 上 or 尚 /d͡ʑɨɐŋ^H/ to render Prakrit jjhāa /d̚d͡ʑʱɑː.ɐ/ was probably influenced by (1) the loss of the nasal –ŋ coda in the ancient northwestern dialect of Middle Chinese; and (2) the use of phono-semantic matching in transcription, with 尚 taken to mean “noble; virtuous; to revere” (idem).

Compare Pali upajjhāya, upajjhā, upajjha ‎(“spiritual teacher or preceptor”), Hindi ओझा ‎(ojhā, “exorcist”), Sindhi واڍو / वाढो ‎(vāḍho, “carpenter”), Assamese ওজা ‎(ûza, “one well-versed in any art; teacher; sorcerer”), Bengali ওঝা ‎(ojha, “snake-charmer; exorcist”), Oriya ଓଝା ‎(ojhā, “teacher; one who cures snake-bites; wizard; exorcist; title of blacksmiths and carpenters”), Malayalam വാധ്യായന്‍ ‎(vādhyāyan‍, “teacher; family priest”), Tamil வாத்தியார் ‎(vāttiyār, “teacher; family priest; one who trains actors and dancers”).

Alternative theories, such as those put forth by Tang Dynasty monks Xuanying and Huiyuan, hypothesise that this was borrowed from Khotanese or language of the Shule Kingdom, but these appear less likely.

Pronunciation