upasamāya

upasama

masc dat sg of upasama (noun); fem instr sg of upasamā (noun); fem dat sg of upasamā (noun); fem abl sg of upasamā (noun); …

upasama (masc): calmness; tranquility; stillness; peace (of)
upasama (masc): ultimate peace; epithet of Nibbāna; lit. peace
upasamā (fem): name of an arahant nun; lit. peace

Built from

upa — prefix · near, alongside
Indicates approach and access. Cognate to Greek hypo-, Latin sub-, English up.
sam — prefix · together
Works like Latin con-. Images things brought into one unified state.
ā — ending · feminine nominative stem-forming suffix
Derives the feminine abstract noun upasamā (peace, tranquility) from the verbal root śam- (to become calm).
ya — ending · dative/ablative/instrumental singular
Marks the case and number of the declined noun in oblique function within the sentence.

Analysis. upa- + samā. upa (near, alongside) + samā (calmness, from sam- 'together' + the root of śamati 'becomes calm'). Literally 'tranquility approached' or 'pacification at hand'; in the canon, the supreme peace approaching through the stilling of all craving and aversion.

Etymology. The prefix upa- carries its spatial sense of proximity and access; sam- embeds the image of things coming together into stillness. Compare Sanskrit upāśama, and the Indo-European root *ḱem- (rest, peace) underlying samatha (calmness) and samādhi (collectedness). The compound idiomatically denotes the peace of Nibbāna as something attainable and near to the practitioner.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version