English
samaj
Samaj comes from Sanskrit समाज ‘society, assembly, conclave’, from अज् ‘to drive, propel, throw, cast’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-1‘to drive’reconstructed
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEअज्2‘to drive, propel, throw, cast’
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEसमाज3samāja‘society, assembly, conclave’
- Englishtodaysamaj3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Sanskrit अज्
- 2 Wiktionary, Sanskrit समाज
- 3 Wiktionary, English samaj
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-Wiktionary, Sanskrit अज्‘to drive’reconstructed
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEअज्Wiktionary, Sanskrit समाज‘to drive, propel, throw, cast’
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEसमाजWiktionary, English samajsamāja‘society, assembly, conclave’
- EnglishtodaysamajWiktionary, English samaj
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- ‘to drive’
act, action, active, agency, activity, actual, agent, suggest, strategy, actor, register, agenda, essay, acre, gesture, activate, digest, congestion, agony, squat, agile, ambiguous, agility, antagonist, agrarian, agitation, ambiguity, belligerent, axiom, progesterone, gestation, ingestion, assay, antagonism, agonist, ingest, radium, actuator, cogent, agitate, 150 more
Today it means
noun A society, community or congregation, especially of the Brahmo Samaj.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “samaj”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Sanskrit अज्, Sanskrit समाज. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- / samaj