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nāmarūpanirodho

nāmarūpanirodha

masc nom sg of nāmarūpanirodha (noun)

1. ending of name and form; cessation of individual existence; end of mental and physical phenomena

Built from

• nāma — root · name, mental phenomena
  Refers to the four mental aggregates (sensation, perception, volition, consciousness); no clear Indo-European cognate.
• rūpa — stem · form, physical phenomena
  The material body and the four elements; no clear Indo-European cognate.
• ni — prefix · down, into
  Concrete image of pressing downward; cognates with English 'nether', German 'nieder'.
• rudh — root · block, obstruct, check
  The sense of being pressed or blocked; related to Latin 'rudis' and the image of obstruction yielding cessation.
• a — ending · nominative singular marker
  Masculine singular nominative ending that marks the subject of a clause or independent noun form.

Analysis. nāma-rūpa-nirodha: 'name-and-form' (the mind-body complex) + 'cessation' (ni- 'down into' + √rudh 'to block, obstruct'). In dependent origination, nāmarūpanirodha marks the cessation of the conditioned factors of consciousness and corporeality that constitute individual experience.

Etymology. Compound of nāmarūpa 'name-and-form' (Pali term for mind-body totality, without European cognate) and nirodha 'cessation': ni- (down, into; cognate with English nether) + √rudh (to block, stop; related to Latin rudis 'rough, blocked'). The spatial image of pressing downward into obstruction yields the abstract sense of cessation or suppression—a key term in the doctrinal understanding of nirvana and the Noble Eightfold Path.

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

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