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tapena

tapa

masc instr sg of tapa (adj); nt instr sg of tapa (adj); masc instr sg of tapas (noun)

1. tapa (adj): hot; warm
2. tapas (masc): spiritual practice; religious practice; lit. burning
3. tapas (masc): self-mortification; ascetic practice; austerity; lit. burning
4. tapas (masc): heat; warmth; lit. burning

Built from

• tap — root · to burn; heat
  PIE *tep- 'to warm'. The concrete image of heat and burning underlies both the thermal and the spiritual meanings: ascetic practice 'burns' impurities as fire consumes fuel.
• a — ending · nominalization
  Masculine (or neuter) noun-forming suffix; converts the root into an abstract noun denoting the practice or quality itself.

Etymology. From √tap 'to burn, to heat', hence 'burning' as the literal sense, metaphorically extended to the intense practice that 'burns up' defilements. Cognate with Latin tepidus 'warm' (from PIE *tep- 'to warm'), and possibly English tepid; the root's primary sense is thermal intensity, which the ascetic tradition reinterpreted as spiritual fervor.

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

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