bráhman

ब्रह्मन् m Pali

Devanagari script form of brahman (“Brahma”)

ब्रह्म॑न् • (bráhman) Sanskrit

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *bʰráźʰma,
- from Proto-Indo-Iranian *bʰráȷ́ʰma,
  - from a Schwebeablaut form of Proto-Indo-European
    - *bʰerǵʰ- (“to become high, rise, elevate”)
    - + *-mn̥. Literally “growth”, “expansion”, “creation”, “development”, “swelling of the spirit or soul”.
Cognate with Latin fortis. The Sanskrit root is बृह् (bṛh, “to increase”) +‎ -मन् (-man), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above.

Alternatively, Mayrhofer prefers to derive the word from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreǵʰ- and connect it to Old Norse bragr (“poetry”), whence Icelandicbragur (“poem; character”).

An older etymology presented the word as an exact cognate of Latin flāmen (“priest”); however, this is commonly considered spurious by modern authors.

Pronunciation

(Vedic) IPA^(key): /bɾɐ́ɦ.mɐn/

(Vedic) IPA^(key): /bɾɐɦ.mɐ́n/
(Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /bɾɐɦ.mɐn̪/

Proper noun

ब्रह्म॑न् • (bráhman) stem, n

Brahman or the one self-existent impersonal Spirit, the one universal Soul, the Self-existent, the Absolute, the Eternal