‹ Back to the text

monena

mona

nt instr sg of mona (noun)

1. silence
2. sage-hood; sagacity; sainthood
3. wisdom; knowledge; sagacity; sapience

Built from

• mun — root · to be silent; to think
  The root evokes both reticence and inner contemplation. Sanskrit mun-, English mind, Latin mens all share the Indo-European root *men-.
• a — ending · abstract noun suffix
  Nominalizes the root to denote the quality of silence or wisdom itself.
• ena — ending · instrumental singular
  Marks the noun as instrumental case singular, answering 'by means of what?' or 'with what?'

Etymology. Root √mun- (to be silent, to think) is related to Sanskrit mun- and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *men- (to think, mind), which also gives English "mind", "mental", Latin "mens" (mind), and Greek "menos" (spirit, vigor). The semantic shift from "silence" to "wisdom" reflects the contemplative ideal: the sage is silent because absorbed in thought. The form with -a suffix denotes the abstract quality or state.

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

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