As a deity name
Name 237 of the Hanuman Sahasranāma — Rasvin Samhita / Brahmanda Purana, as taught by Lord Ram / Sages
Name 303 of the Hanuman Sahasranāma — Rasvin Samhita / Brahmanda Purana, as taught by Lord Ram / Sages
As a Hindi name
होना
to be (used to indicate that the subject and object are the same); to be, become (to have or gain the quality of); to exist; to be born
Platts (p. 1240) also records: = هوتا hotā, 'priest,' q.v
a Hindi word of Old Hindi origin; it is not Sanskrit — per Wiktionary’s etymology record
“Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéwHeti Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰáwHati Sanskrit भव॑ति (bhávati) Ashokan Prakrit 𑀪𑀯𑀢𑀺 (bhavati) Ashokan Prakrit 𑀳𑁄𑀢𑀺 (hoti) Prakrit 𑀳𑁄𑀇 (hoi) Old Hindi होइ (hoi) Hindi हो (ho) Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Indo-Irania…” — per Wiktionary’s etymology record
As a Sanskrit word
Meaning
trī one who sacrifices (gen. or comp.), sacrificer, &c.
Scripturally attested Verified derivationMultiple readings (4)Why this matches what you typed
The spelling you confirmed, होतृ, is itself a dictionary headword — no grammatical transformation stands between what you typed and the meaning above.
Dictionary citations
hotṛ &c. See p. 1306, col. 1.
hotṛ m. (fr. √ 1. hu) an offerer of an oblation or burnt-offering (with fire), sacrificer, priest, (esp.) a priest who at a sacrifice invokes the gods or recites the Ṛg-veda, a Ṛg-veda pr˚ (one of the 4 kinds of officiating priest See ṛtvij, p. 224; properly the Hotṛ priest has 3 assistants, sometimes called Puruṣas, viz. the Maitrā-varuṇa, Acchā-vāka, and Grāvastut; to these are sometimes added three others, the Brāhmaṇācchaṃsin, Agnīdhra or Agnīdh, and Potṛ, though these last are properly assigned to the Brāhman priest; sometimes the Neṣṭṛ is substituted for the Grāva-stut), RV. &c. &c.
N. of Śiva, MBh.
hotṛ mf(trī)n. one who sacrifices (gen. or comp.), sacrificer, Mn.; MBh. &c.
hotṛ a. (trī f.) [hu-tṛc] Sacrificing, offering oblations with fire; vahati vidhihutaṃ yā haviryā ca hotrī Ś. 1. 1. — m. 1 A sacrificial priest, especially one who recites the prayers of the Ṛgveda at a sacrifice. 2 A sacrificer; R. 1. 62. 82; Ms. 11. 36. 3 An epithet of Agni.
Alternative readings
More than one analysis survives full verification. That ambiguity is real, so we show every reading rather than pick one silently.
Caveats
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