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mahānisaṁsā

mahānisaṁsa

nominative plural feminine of mahānisaṁsa (adjective)

1. of great fruit or benefit
2. highly rewarding
3. with many advantages

Built from

• mahā — prefix · great
  From PIE *meg- (great, mighty), cognate with English "much", Greek "megas", Sanskrit "mahant". Intensifies the following noun.
• ni — prefix · out of, away
  Spatial prefix meaning downward or outward emergence; here integrated into the stem nisaṁsa to show results flowing out.
• saṁs — root · throw, cast
  Root meaning to throw or cast; combined with ni- to form nisaṁsa (outcome, consequence, fruit of action).
• a — ending · nominative plural feminine
  Feminine nominative plural ending agreeing with the plural feminine noun it modifies in the phrase.

Analysis. mahā (great) + nisaṁsa (fruit, benefit, result); a compound adjective expressing that something yields substantial rewards or consequences.

Etymology. nisaṁsa is nis- (out of, away from) + saṁsa (throwing, casting), literally "what is thrown out as a result"; thus "outcome" or "fruit". The prefix ni- (down, into) combines with saṁsa to form a word denoting the natural consequence or benefit that emerges. Mahā (great, from PIE *meg-) combines this with the sense of magnitude, as in English "mega-" and Greek "megas".

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

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