Etymology
The term janapada is a compound (or tatpurusha) term, composed of janas "tribe" (cf. Latin cognate genus, English cognate kin) and pada "foot" (cf. Latin cognate pedis). From its earliest attestation, the word has had a double meaning of "realm, territory" and "subject population". A janapadin is the ruler of a janapada. Dunkel (2002) compares the Greek andrapodon "slave", compares PIE *pédom "fetters" (i.e. "what is attached to the feet"). Sanskrit padám, usually taken to mean "footprint, trail", diverges in accent from the PIE reconstruction. For the sense of "population of the land", padasya janas, the inverted padajana would be expected. A primary meaning of "place of the people", janasya padam, would not explain why the compound is of masculine gender. An original dvandva "land and people" is conceivable, but a dual inflection would be expected.
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