Tama (neuter) and tamo [Sanskrit tamas, tam and tim, cf. tamisra = Latin tenebrae; also timira dark and Pāli tibba, timira; Old High German dinstar and finstar; Anglo-Saxon thimm, English dim] darkness (synonym andhakāra, opposite joti), literally as well as figuratively (mental darkness = ignorance or state of doubt); one of the dark states of life and rebirth; adjective living in one of the dark spheres of life (cf. kaṇhajāta) or in a state of suffering (duggati) Snp 248 (pecca tamaṃ vajanti ye patanti sattā Nirayaṃ avaṃsirā), 763 (nivutānaṃ t. hoti andhakāro apassitaṃ), 956 (sabbaṃ tamaṃ vinodetvā); Vibh 367 (three tamāni: in past, future and present). adjective: puggalo tamo tama-parāyaṇo D III 233; A II 85 = Pp 51; Ja II 17. — tamā tamaṃ out of one "duggati" into another Snp 278 (vinipātaṃ samāpanno gabbhā gabbhaṃ technical term ... dukkaṃ nigacchati), cf. Mvu II 225, also tamāto tamaṃ ibid. I 27; II 215. — tama-t-agge beyond the region of darkness (or rebirth in dark spheres), cf. bhavagge (and Sanskrit tamaḥ pāre) S V 154, 163. -andhakāra (complete) darkness (of night) v.l. for samandha° at Ja III 60 (Kern: tamondhakāra); -nivuta enveloped in d. Snp 348; -nuda (tama° and tamo°), dispelling darkness, frequent as epithet of the Buddha or other sages Snp 1133, 1136; It 32, 108; Nidd II §281; Vv 35 2 (= Vv-a 161); Miln 1, 21, etc.; -parāyaṇa (adjective) having a state of darkness or "duggati" for his end or destiny S I 93; A II 85 = Pp 51. [BD]: tamā tamaṃ out of the frying pan, into the fire.
2. tama an affix forming the superl. degree of adjectives and rarely of substantives ( ka/Rva- , &c.), Suśr. i, 20, 11
【陽、中】 (mano-group) 黑暗，無知。(在【合】中它變成 tamo)。~khandha,【陽】 大黑暗。~naddha,【形】 被黑暗包圍的。~nuda,【形】 驅散 黑暗者。~parāyaṇa,【形】 有黑暗狀態的命運的。
tama A Taddhita affix of the superlative degree applied to nouns, adjectives, and also to verbs and indeclinables in which latter case it is changed to tamAm ; aSva° Pt. 5. ‘the best horse’; suhfttama Mu. 1 ; so pacatitamAm . It is also added to pronouns in the sense of ‘one of many’; e. g. katama, yatama, tatama &c.
(suffix, suffix, superl adj) most; -est