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purimena

purima

masc instr sg of purima (adj); nt instr sg of purima (adj); nt instr sg of purima (noun); masc instr sg of purima (noun)

1. earlier; past; former; previous
2. eastern; lit. previous
3. front; fore; lit. previous
4. what was said before; what was stated previously; lit. previous
5. first person; man in front; lit. previous

Built from

• pura — root · before, in front
  Adverbial stem meaning 'forward' or 'in front of', from the Indo-European root *por- also seen in Sanskrit pūrva, Greek pró, and Latin pro. The sense extends from spatial 'before' to temporal 'former' and locational 'eastern' (what lies ahead in the direction of approach).
• -ima — ending · relational/superlative suffix
  Forms an ordinal or relational adjective, cognate with Latin -imus in superlatives (maximus 'greatest') and English -most (foremost). Here it attaches to pura to create 'of/pertaining to what is before', yielding 'former' or 'eastern'.
• -ena — ending · instrumental singular
  Marks the noun or adjective as instrumental singular (masc or neut), expressing means, instrument, or circumstance: 'by means of the former/eastern'.

Analysis. purima is derived from pura 'before, in front', with the suffix -ima forming a superlative or relational adjective; the instrumental singular purimena marks it as an instrument or means. The sense 'eastern' develops from 'what lies before/in front' (the direction of approach).

Etymology. pura (adverb, 'before, in front') + -ima (suffix forming relational adjectives, cognate with Latin -imus in superlatives, and English -most as in 'foremost'). The root is related to *por- 'forward, forth'; cf. Sanskrit pūrva 'former, eastern', Greek pró 'before', Latin pro 'before, for'. The concrete image is spatial: 'what stands before in time or space'.

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

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