[Facts] Re: The meaning; change of topic
in reply to a message by Anneza
It is of Sanskrit origin: The pronominal root tad (he/she/it; it is cognate with English that) with a suffix maya denoting 'made of/from'. 'Made up of that' makes no sense in English, but it is the common word for "engrossed" or someone "concentrating on something". The word is old (appears in the post-Vedic literature, e.g., in the Upanishads), and is still in common use as a word in Bengali and Hindi. It started being used as a name in India (probably Bengal, not sure) slightly before I was born (1962), and increased in popularity since then, probably because a famous tabla-player by this name. My parents don't recall where they got tanmaYa from, but it was probably chosen patterned after the older-as-a-name cinmaYa (from cit/kit consciousness/health, originally probably bright etc.: "consisting purely of consciousness", i.e., not corporeal, but spiritual; opposite of that is mRnmaYa, from mRt, mud).
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Thank you! I like the (probable) meaning of 'focused', and it seems to suit you.