The word danam is derived by adding the suffix lyut to the root verb da, which means to give, bestow, grant, yield, impart, present, offer, give in marriage, hand over, give back, pay, give up, cede, sell, communicate, teach, utter, speak, permit, allow, place, put, apply, or add.
Danam means the act of giving, giving in marriage, giving up, communicating, imparting, teaching, delivering, handing over, gift, donation, present, liberality, charity, munificence, bribery for overcoming one’s enemy, cutting, dividing, purification, cleaning, protection, pasture, addition, distribution of food, distribution of a Vedic sacrificial meal, part, possession, share, paying back, restoring, oblation, the rut-fluid that flows from an elephant’s temples, distributor, dispenser, straighten, be straight, nourishing, cherishing, beating, striking, or wild honey.
Danam could also mean destroying; cleaning of a lamp; coarseness; stimulating; kindling; setting on fire; the excretory fluids like phlegm, vomit, and urine; giving to gods, priests, and teachers; renunciation; letting loose; dismiss; discard; abandon; throw; desert; relaxing; emit; evacuate; discharge; answer; cast; shoot; drive out; produce; give away; handle; afflict; affect; act upon; touch; air; wind; sensitive nerve; sensation; contact; putting in; commence; beginning; stating; causing to attain; claim; appoint; inauguration; worldly conduct; accomplish; illustrate; explain; sprinkle; that by which a sacrificial offering is made; scatter; pour out; completion; final emancipation or beatitude; illness; trouble; distress; anxiety; inheritance; retirement; precept; dejection; laying aside; suspending; a general rule; resignation; quitting; setting free; a ceremony on the suspending of the repetition of the Vedas; excreting; end; killing; the colon-like sign in Devanagari; shedding; light; splendour; hurling; offspring; sun’s southern course; opening; getting rid of; creation; destruction of the world; cause; hurting; injuring; or slaughter.