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paramāya

parama

fem instr sg of parama (adj); masc dat sg of parama (adj); fem dat sg of parama (adj); nt dat sg of parama (adj); …

1. highest; most extreme; very best; ultimate; superior; sublime; lit. furthest
2. very worst; most terrible

Built from

• pa — prefix · forward, forth
  Intensifying prefix emphasizing motion or extent. Works like Latin pro- and Greek pro-.
• rama — root · delight, reach
  Related to Sanskrit √ram (enjoy, delight) and possibly to the sense of reaching or spanning a distance. The concrete image is of going all the way through or reaching the furthest point.

Etymology. From pa- (forward, forth) + √ram (delight, rejoice), literally "going forth delighted" or "furthest reached"; cognate with Sanskrit parama and Greek πέρας (peras, "limit, boundary"), both from Indo-European *per- (to traverse, go through). The sense evolved from "furthest" (what you reach going all the way) to "highest, most extreme" in the evaluative scale.

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

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