The Etymology of Buddha
'Buddha' is not a name but a title: Sanskrit for 'the awakened one,' from the verb 'budh' (to awake, to perceive). The same root produced 'bodhi' (awakening) and 'bodhisattva' (one on the path to awakening). It traces back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (to be aware), connecting it — at a distance of five thousand years — to a web of awareness-related words across the Indo-European family. Siddhartha Gautama received this title after his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree around 500 BCE. The word reached English only in the 17th century, when European travellers began writing accounts of Asian religions, initially rendered in creative spellings like 'Boudhou' and 'Fo.'