मन्द

Related to मन्थर (manthara, “lazy, tardy”), with further origin uncertain.

Turner derives both words from a hypothetical root *मन्द् (mand, “to stand still”), itself perhaps a derivative of मन् (man, “to wait”) (whence अममन् (amaman, “had waited”)), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stay, remain”); this "to wait" sense of मन् is much less frequent than the "to think" sense in Sanskrit and does not show up in most dictionaries.

He also notes the existence of a "defective connotation" Prakrit word group linked with this word with strong phonetic variation; others have taken this variation as evidence of a borrowing from Munda.

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /mɐn.dɐ/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmɐn̪.d̪ɐ/

मन्द • (manda) root form, n

1. slow, tardy, moving slowly or softly, loitering, idle, lazy, sluggish in (loc. or comp.), apathetic, phlegmatic, indifferent to (dat.) MBh. Kāv. &c.
2. weak, slight, slack (as a bow), dull, faint (as light), low (as a voice), gentle (as rain or wind), feeble (as the digestive faculty) ib.
3. weak i.e. tolerant, indulgent to (loc.) MBh.
4. dull-witted, silly, stupid, foolish

• → Tamil: மந்தம் (mantam)

• Monier Williams (1899), “मन्द”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 787, column 3.
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎ (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 312
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1963) Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen [A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 581