Re: Nimitta

Dear JIm,

Thanks for this research

I think the reason for the semantic ambiguity is that there are several forms that are getting mixed up

1) nir + mā (nirmāti or nirmimite p.p. nirmita) whose primary meaning is build or create

2) ni + mā (nimimite, p.p. nimita) whose primary meaning is measure

The Pali for #2 is nimināti ("measures, exchanges, barters") p.p. niminita

The Pali form for #1 is nimmiṇāti ("creates, fashions, builds"), p.p. nimmita.

Nobody knows where nimitta comes from. It looks like a past participle, but of what verb? Skt also has a verb mi which means to "fix, fasten in the earth, set up, found build", p. p. mita ("set up, established, etc."). The verb also appears to have an alternate form mit per MW. ni + mi means "to fix or dig in, erect, raise" and is attested in the RV. It also means to "perceive, notice, understand", attested in the AV. So that would be a good candidate for the origin of nimitta, if ni + mit was used in historical times: ni + mit + ta, but it is not attested as far as I know.

Then there is the verb you mention, mid which has the meaning "grow fat" and also goes back to the RV. But nothing is attested with the ni suffix, that I have been able to find. This verb is also related to mith (see MW sv. mitra) with meaning "unite, pair, couple", but again, there is no ni + mith, that I can find.

In Pāli the only forms we have are nimitta and nimmita ("created, fashioned").

We know that in the first manuscripts written down in the first century BCE, geminates were not written down (Norman, Philological Approach to Buddhism, 107) . So the word would have been written as nimita. It was up to future scribes, when transcribing back into "correct" Pāli to determine whether the -m- or -t- were geminates or not. Now if there was still a bhāṇaka around and he pronounced the words with the geminates intact, then the scribe might have had a chance of getting it right, but if not, it was up to the scribe to choose. Exactly why he/she chose nimitta, I don't know (Skt. nimitta is fairly late, from MBh time), but it looks like some of the meanings of the other verbs got mixed up so that nimitta is a composite of ni + mā (measure), nir + mā (build) and perhaps ni + mi(t) (erect, raise, perceive, understand) and perhaps ni + mid ("meaning"?) that you mention. I don't know, but it looks like nimitta arose because of mixing up all these verbs.

Anyways, these are just some thoughts. I don't know whether we'll ever understand the derivation of nimitta, but we can speculate. If it was formed regularly, then it would have to come from ni + mid + ta as you suggest, or ni + mith + ta, which would both produce nimitta in Prakrit. where did you find the derivation for ni + mid + kta with the meaning of "cause" and "sign"?

Best wishes, Bryan

From: "'Jim Anderson' jimanderson.on@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: Pali Study Group <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2016 5:38 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Nimitta

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

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