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purisā

purisa

masc nom pl of purisa (noun); masc instr sg of purisa (noun); masc abl sg of purisa (noun); masc voc sg of purisa (noun); …

1. man; male; person
2. servant; labourer; lit. man
3. (gram) grammatical person; 3rd 2nd 1st person
4. male; masculine
5. World Soul (in Sāṃkhya system)

Built from

• pu — prefix · forth, forward
  From *pro- 'forward'. Concrete sense of stepping ahead or going out.
• risa — stem · going, active one
  Derivative stem (likely *-s-ā formation); the agent noun builds on a root sense of motion or action.

Etymology. From Indo-European *pro-s-: the prefix *pro- 'forth, forward' (English for-, Latin pro-) + *-s- (formative suffix). The root sense is 'one who goes forth' or 'foremost one', whence 'man' as the acting agent. Cognates: Latin prōmus 'first', Sanskrit puruṣa (same meaning and etymology).

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

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