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temāsaṁ

temāsa

accusative singular masculine of temāsa (noun)

1. three months
2. trimester
3. quarter (of a year)

Built from

• te — root · three
  Cardinal numeral. From Indo-European *trei-, visible in English three, Latin tres, Greek treis.
• māsa — root · month
  Related to the concept of measurement and the lunar cycle. Cognate with English moon and Latin mensis through the root *mē- 'to measure'.
• -ṁ — ending · accusative singular
  Masculine accusative ending; here nasalized to -ṁ before a following consonant in the flow of the sentence.

Analysis. temāsa is a compound: te (three) + māsa (month). In the accusative singular, temāsa becomes temāsaṁ through sandhi (nasalization before the -m ending).

Etymology. temāsa = te (three, from Indo-European *trei-, cognate with English three, Latin tres, Greek treis) + māsa (month, from Indo-European *mē- 'to measure', cognate with English moon, Latin mensis). The compound denotes a period of three lunar months, a natural division of the year in Indian timekeeping.

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

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