‹ Back to the text

manussesu

manussa

masc loc pl of manussa (noun)

1. manussa (masc): human being; man; person
2. manussesu (masc): among men; among human beings

Built from

• manu — root · man, human
  From PIE *men- (to think, mind). The concrete sense is 'the thinking one', hence human being. Cognates: Sanskrit manuṣya, Latin mens (mind), English man.
• ssa — ending · possessive suffix
  Marks possession or inherent quality. Here it derives the noun manussa 'one of men, a human being' from the root manu.
• su — ending · locative plural
  The -su ending marks locative plural ('in, among'); manussesu = 'among human beings'.

Etymology. From manu- (man, human) + -ssa (possessive suffix). Manu is cognate with Sanskrit manuṣya, Greek menos (strength, spirit), Latin mens (mind), and English man. The sense developed from 'one possessing mind/consciousness' to 'human being'.

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

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