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manopubbaṅgamā

manopubbaṅgama

masc nom pl of manopubbaṅgama (adj); fem nom sg of manopubbaṅgama (adj); fem nom pl of manopubbaṅgama (adj); nt nom pl of manopubbaṅgama (adj); …

1. led by mind; preceded by mind; headed by mind; with mind as forerunner

Built from

• mano — root · mind, thought
  From √man (to think). Cognate with English 'mind', Latin 'mens', Greek 'menos'. The word names the faculty of consciousness and intention.
• pubba — stem · front, before, prior
  Designates spatial priority (in front) and temporal priority (before). Used as a prefix here to mean 'foremost' or 'leading'.
• ṅgama — stem · goer, one who goes
  From √gam (to go), cognate with English 'come', Latin 'venio'. Forms nomina agentis (agent nouns) to denote movement or a mover. Here personifies the quality of 'going ahead'.
• -a — ending · masculine nominative singular
  This ending marks the masculine nominative singular citation form of adjectives of the a-stem class; the surface form manopubbaṅgamā shows the nominative plural feminine (-ā), which has identical phonetic shape.

Analysis. mano (mind) + pubba (front, before) + ṅgama (going, mover) — a compound designating that which has mind going before it, i.e. mind as the forerunner or leader of phenomena. In the Dhammapada opening (Dhp 1–2), describes how mental states lead and shape all experience.

Etymology. mano from √man (think, perceive), cognate with English 'mind', Latin 'mens', Greek 'menos' (force); pubba (before, front) from √pūr or a root meaning "prior"; ṅgama (going, movement) from √gam (go), cognate with English 'come', Latin 'venio', Sanskrit 'gacchati'. The compound imagery is spatial and temporal: the foremost position of mind in the arising of experience.

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

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