‹ Back to the text

durabhiramaṁ

durabhirama

accusative singular neuter of durabhirama (adjective), or accusative singular of a compound; sandhi form with anusvāra before labial

1. hard to delight in
2. difficult to enjoy
3. unpleasant

Built from

• du(r)- — prefix · bad, hard
  Excess or difficulty turning away from the mark; related to Greek dys- (dysfunction) and Latin dis-.
• abhi- — prefix · toward, over
  Bearing down on something, facing it directly; from PIE *obhi, cognate with Latin ob- (observe).
• ram — root · delight, enjoy
  From Sanskrit √ram 'to rest, to rejoice'; the concrete sense is 'to lie at ease'.
• -a — ending · neuter adjective
  Marks the word as a neuter adjective in citation form; the surface form durabhiramaṁ is accusative singular with anusvāra before labial.

Analysis. du(r)- (bad, hard, gone wrong) + abhi- (toward, bearing down on) + rama (delight, enjoyment): 'that which bearing-down-on-delight makes hard'—i.e., disagreeable, unpleasant. The compound expresses the sense 'not easy to take pleasure in'.

Etymology. du(r)- from PIE *dus- (Greek dys-, English dis-); rama from √ram 'to rest, to enjoy', related to Sanskrit rāmate 'rejoices'; abhi- from PIE *obhi 'toward' (Latin ob-). The whole compound shows how spatial prefixes (du- 'bad/hard' + abhi- 'bearing down') compose into an abstract quality.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version