mantra

Etymology

It is borrowed from Sanskrit मन्त्र (mantra, “sacred message or text, charm, spell, counsel”),^[2][3][4][5] literally "instrument of thought",^[3][6][7] formed from a root meaning "to think" and a suffix expressing the instrument or means.^[2][8] It continues Proto-Indo-Iranian *mántras,^[9] and the root goes back to Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”),^[3][10][8] the source of mind.^[2][8][5] Klein relates it to mandarin.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sacred text or passage from the Vedas, used as a prayer or incantation: 1794, in Jones's translation of the Institutes of Hindu Law.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the first use to 1795,^[5] and Etymonline and Barnhart to 1808, for the hymn portion of the Vedas.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the hymns of the Vedas the word was extended to any sacred text used as a charm or incantation, a use Etymonline finds by 1900.^[3] The sense of a sacred word or syllable repeated in meditation is recorded by 1919 in Etymonline,^[3] but only from 1956 in Barnhart.^[12][4] The general sense, a phrase repeated constantly or monotonously, a slogan or catchphrase, appears in 1971, in the Daily Telegraph.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1794 – a sacred Vedic text used as a prayer or incantation.^[2]
• 1795 – first known use according to Merriam-Webster.^[5]
• 1808 – the hymn portion of the Vedas.^[3][4]
• by 1900 – a sacred text used as a charm.^[3]
• 1919 – a word used in yoga meditation.^[3]
• 1956 – a sacred name or word used for meditation, in Barnhart's dating.^[4]
• 1971 – a constantly repeated phrase; a slogan.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. In Hinduism, a hymn or passage of the Vedas, used as a prayer.^[7][5][2]
2. In Hinduism and Buddhism, a sacred word, syllable or short phrase repeated as an aid to meditation or as an incantation.^[7][5][2]
3. A phrase or idea repeated often, as a slogan or watchword: Cut costs became the board's mantra.^[5][2]

Word family

• mantric

Related words

• mind
• mandarin
• mental

Usage notes

The OED thinks the rarer spelling mantram probably reproduces the Tamil form of the word.^[2][13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press