prathamá mf(A/)n. (for pra-tama, superl. of 1. pra; rarely declined as a pron., e.g. °másyāḥ, [AV. vi, 18, 1]; °me, [PañcavBr. xxv, 18, 5]; [R. iv, 37, 11]; [Kir. ii, 44]; cf. [Pāṇ. i, 1, 33]) foremost, first (in time or in a series or in rank)
earliest, primary, original, prior, former
preceding, initial, chief, principal, most excellent, [RV.] &c. &c.
often translatable adverbially = ibc. (cf. below) and (am ind.) firstly, at first, for the first time
just, newly, at once, forthwith (also āt, [Hariv.])
formerly, previously (am also as prep. with gen. = before, e.g. [Mn. ii, 194]; prathamam-anantaram or paścāt, first—afterwards; prathamam-tatas, first—next)
prathamá m. (in gram., scil. varṇa), the first consonant of a Varga, a surd unaspirated letter
(scil. puruṣa), the first (= our 3rd) person or its terminations
(scil. svara), the first tone
in math. the sum of the products divided by the difference between the squares of the cosine of the azimuth and the sine of the amplitude