‹ Back to the text

manusse

manussa

masc acc pl of manussa (noun); masc loc sg of manussa (noun)

1. human being; man; person

Built from

• man — root · think, have mind
  From *men- (Indo-European root for mind, thought, memory). Cognates: Sanskrit man-, Latin mēns, English man, mind.
• ussa — ending · agent suffix (one who)
  Forms nouns of animate beings and agents from verbal roots. In the nom sg this becomes -usso, in acc pl -usse as here.

Etymology. From man- 'to think' + -ussa (an agent suffix forming nouns of beings); cognate with Sanskrit manuṣya, Latin mēns 'mind', English man. The root sense is 'the thinking being', reflecting the Vedic concept of Manu as primal man and the Indo-European association of humanity with mind or speech.

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

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