शम

Learned borrowing from Classical Sanskrit शम (śama).

• (Delhi Hindi) IPA^(key): /ʃəm/, [ʃɐ̃m]

शम • (śam) m (literary)

1. tranquillity, peacefulness, calmness, rest
2. lack or abstinence from passion; total asceticism
   • Bhawan Singh Rana, योग वाशिष्ठ [Vasishtha's yoga], Diamond Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 25, →ISBN:

     वशिष्ठ राम से बोले—अपने चित्त को भोगों में मत गिरने दो। शम और दम को अपनाओ। संसार की इच्छा त्यागकर उदार बनना शम है। इन्द्रियों को वश में करना दम है।

     vaśiṣṭh rām se bole—apne citt ko bhogõ mẽ mat girne do. śam aur dam ko apnāo. sansār kī icchā tyāgkar udār bannā śam hai. indriyõ ko vaś mẽ karnā dam hai.

     Vasishta said to Rama—don't let your mind fall into pleasures. Apply apathy and self-restraint. Apathy is giving up worldly desires and becoming noble. Controlling the senses is self-restraint.

• Dāsa, Śyāmasundara (1965–1975) “शम”, in Hindī Śabdasāgara [lit. Sea of Hindi words] (in Hindi), Kashi [Varanasi]: Nagari Pracarini Sabha, page 4693
• Platts, John T. (1884) “शम”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., page 733
• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993) “शम”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press, page 943

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱem- (“hornless”). Cognate with Russian комо́лый (komólyj, “hornless”), Lithuanian šmùlas (“hornless”), Proto-Germanic *hindiz (“female deer < *hornless”)), Ancient Greek κεμάς (kemás, “young deer whose antlers have not yet branched”). Also related to Proto-Germanic *hamalaz (“mutilated, truncated < *with cut off horns”).

Monier-Williams and Ralph Griffith translate the term as “tame, mild, meek”, tying it to the root शम् (śam, “to be tranquil”), but Rigveda 1.32.15 contrasts this adjective with शृङ्गिन् (śṛṅgin, “having horns; horned”), thus implying that the word essentially means “hornless”. From this verse, Monier-Williams and Ralph Griffith may have inferred that the term means "tame, meek" by reasoning that horns on a beast signify wildness and aggression.

Mayrhofer, Lubotsky, and Beekes agree on "hornless" as the correct translation of this word.[1][2][3]

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /ɕɐ́.mɐ/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈɕɐ.mɐ/

शम • (śáma) stem

1. (Rigvedic) hornless; without horns
   • c. 1700 BCE – 1200 BCE, Ṛgveda 1.32.15:

     इन्द्रो यातोऽवसितस्य राजा शमस्य च शृङ्गिणो वज्रबाहुः ।
     सेदु राजा क्षयति चर्षणीनामरान्न नेमिः परि ता बभूव ॥

     indro yātoʼvasitasya rājā śamasya ca śṛṅgiṇo vajrabāhuḥ.
     sedu rājā kṣayati carṣaṇīnāmarānna nemiḥ pari tā babhūva.

     Indra is King of all that moves and moves not, of creatures hornless and horned, the Thunder-wielder.
     Over all living men he rules as sovereign, containing all like spokes within the felly.

   • c. 1700 BCE – 1200 BCE, Ṛgveda 1.33.15:

     आवः शमं वृषभं तुग्र्यासु क्षेत्रजेषे मघवञ्छ्वित्र्यं गाम् ।
     ज्योक्चिदत्र तस्थिवांसो अक्रञ्छत्रूयतामधरा वेदनाकः ॥

     āvaḥ śamaṃ vṛṣabhaṃ tugryāsu kṣetrajeṣe maghavañchvitryaṃ gām.
     jyokcidatra tasthivāṃso akrañchatrūyatāmadharā vedanākaḥ.

     O Maghavan, thou helpest Śvitrā's hornless steer, in combat for the land, mid Tugra's houses.
     Long stood they there before the task was ended: thou wast the master of the foemen's treasure.

From the root शम् (śam, “to be tired; finish; stop; rest; to be pacified, calm, peaceful”). Related to शान्ति (śānti), शान्त (śānta), शमन (śamana), शाम्यति (śāmyati).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈɕɐ.mɐ/

शम • (śama) stem, m (Classical Sanskrit)

1. tranquillity, peacefulness, calmness, rest, equanimity, quietness
   • c. 500 BCE – 100 BCE, Rāmāyaṇa 6.70.38:

     हर्षः कामश्च दर्पश्च धर्मः क्रोधः शमो दमः ।
     अर्थादेतानि सर्वाणि प्रवर्तन्ते नराधिप ॥

     harṣaḥ kāmaśca darpaśca dharmaḥ krodhaḥ śamo damaḥ.
     arthādetāni sarvāṇi pravartante narādhipa.

     Happiness, desire, arrogance, morality, anger, calmness, and self-control, in fact, all of these keep rotating, O king.

   • c. 400 BCE, Mahābhārata 1.32.17.3:

     धर्मे मे रमतां बुद्धिः शमे तपसि चेश्वर ॥

     dharme me ramatāṃ buddhiḥ śame tapasi ceśvara.

     May my intellect abide by morality, calmness, and austerity, O Lord.

   • c. 400 BCE, Bhagavad Gītā 18.42:

     शमो दमस्तपः शौचं क्षान्तिरार्जवमेव च ।
     ज्ञानं विज्ञानमास्तिक्यं ब्रह्मकर्म स्वभावजम् ॥

     śamo damastapaḥ śaucaṃ kṣāntirārjavameva ca.
     jñānaṃ vijñānamāstikyaṃ brahmakarma svabhāvajam.

     Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, patience, honesty, knowledge, wisdom and religiousness are the natural duties of a Brahmana.

   • c. 400 BCE, Bhagavad Gītā 11.24.2:

     दृष्ट्वा हि त्वां प्रव्यथितान्तरात्मा धृतिं न विन्दामि शमं च विष्णो ॥

     dṛṣṭvā hi tvāṃ pravyathitāntarātmā dhṛtiṃ na vindāmi śamaṃ ca viṣṇo.

     Indeed, O Vishnu, on seeing you, my inner soul becomes perturbed; I feel not the firmness and calmness.

2. mitigation; pacification; cessation, extinction, ending
   • c. 700 CE – 900 CE, Bhāgavata Purāṇa 3.7.14.1:

     अशेषसंक्लेशशमं विधत्ते गुणानुवादश्रवणं मुरारेः ।

     aśeṣasaṃkleśaśamaṃ vidhatte guṇānuvādaśravaṇaṃ murāreḥ.

     One can achieve the cessation of all sufferings, by listening to Lord Krishna's praise repeatingly.

3. lack or abstinence from passion; apathy
   • c. 400 BCE, Bhagavad Gītā 6.3:

     आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते ।
     योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते ॥

     ārurukṣormuneryogaṃ karma kāraṇamucyate.
     yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇamucyate.

     For the muni yet to advance in yoga, work is said to be the means; for one who is already advanced, apathy is the means.

• Pali: sama
• Prakrit: सम (sama)

• Monier Williams (1899) “शम”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1053.
• Hellwig, Oliver (2010-2024) “śama”, in DCS - The Digital Corpus of Sanskrit, Berlin, Germany.
• Apte, Vaman Shivram (1890) “शमः”, in The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary, Poona: Prasad Prakashan, page 1534
• Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1893) “शम”, in A practical Sanskrit dictionary with transliteration, accentuation, and etymological analysis throughout, London: Oxford University Press, page 308
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “śáma”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 713