Hi Bryan,
I found an interesting etymology for "nimitta" in Abh-ṭ ad Abh 91:
"Attano phalaṃ niminātīti nimittaṃ, mā parimāṇe, nipubbo."
Although it is derived from the root mā and has the prefix ni, it doesn't
tell us much about the suffix and I'm not sure what nimināti is suppose to
mean here. One that seems to make sense is "it creates or causes its own
fruit (or effect)".
Abh 979 gives three meanings for nimitta: cause (kāraṇa), the
distingusishing mark of the sexes (aṅgajāta), and mark or sign (lañchana =
paṭibimba and cihana). For Sanskrit "nimitta", I've only found the
derivation: ni + mid + kta (past part. affix) with two meanings: hetu and
cihna (= Pali cihana). Cihana is interesting because it's used to explain
"saññāṇaṃ" under the root ñā avabodhane and especially under the root citi:
"Citi saññāṇe. Saññāṇaṃ cihanaṃ lakkhaṇakaraṇaṃ. Cetati. Cihanaṃ karotīti
attho." (Dhātumālā -- cst4)
I'm thinking that even a letter is a nimitta, since it too is a mark which
gives rise to a sound which in turn gives rise to words and meanings as in a
chain of causes and effects.
Best wishes,
Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy]"
<palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: September 25, 2016 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Nimitta
Dear Balaji,
Sanskrit seems to have two words nimitta and nirmita, whose meanings may
have been conflated in Pali. nirmita means "built, fashioned, formed,
created" (< nir + mā), which is perhaps where its meaning as "topic" or
"theme" would trace back to. Cone gives "what one notes or marks; an object
of thought or meditation or concentration" as her third meaning for nimitta,
which seems close to this meaning.
It is unclear where nimitta in Skt. (or in Pāli) comes from. MW says
"possibly connected with ni + mā, which means "to measure, to adjust" (past
participle, nimita, "measured" or "caused") and which may be another form of
nir + mā ("form, fabricate, produce, create" and also "to measure", past
participle nirmita, "built, fashioned, formed"). For the meaning of "topic"
or "theme" it seems to come from the latter verb, as a topic is something
created.
In the "normal" meaning of nimitta (Cone, meaning #1: a sign or mark by
which something or someone is recognised or identified or
known or defined; a distinguishing mark or appearance; a perceived
(enduring) attribute, predicate (especially that of permanence); an
attribution"), it would seem to come from ni + mā, as one "measures" the
object-perception against one's previous perceptions in order to recognize
it. In the meaning of an image that appears as a sign of one's samādhi, it
could derive from either root. In the meaning of "reason, cause" it seems to
derive from nir + mā (something produced or created).
There is also the verb ni + mi with meaning "to erect, to raise; to
perceive, notice, understand" which may play a role.
My point is that the various meanings of nimitta in Pāli are sometimes
difficult to figure out because they may be derived from different verbs in
Vedic with different meanings. Or at least that's a possibility,
Mettā,
Bryan