kalaṁ

1. a small fraction of a whole, generally the 16th part; the 16th part of the moon’s disk; often the 16th part again subdivided into 16 parts and so on: one infinitesimal part (see Vv-a.103; Dhp-a.ii.63), in this sense in the expression kalaṃ nâgghati soḷasiṃ “not worth an infinitesimal portion of” = very much inferior to SN.i.19; SN.iii.156 = SN.v.44 = Iti.20; AN.i.166 AN.i.213; AN.iv.252; Ud.11; Dhp.70; Vv.43#7; Dhp-a.ii.63 (= koṭṭhāsa) Dhp-a.iv.74.
2. an art, a trick (lit. part, turn) Ja.i.163
   ■ kalaṃ upeti to be divided or separated Mil.106; Dhp-a.i.119; see sakala
   ■ In cpd. with bhū as kalī -bhavati to be divided, broken up Ja.i.467 (= bhijjati). Cp. vikala.

Vedic kalā *squel, to Lat scalpo, Gr. σκάλλω, Ohg scolla, scilling, scala. The Dhtp. (no 613) explains kala by “sankhyāne.”

Preliminary

1. dark (syn. kaṇha, which cp. for meaning and applications), black, blueblack, misty, cloudy. Its proper sphere of application is the dark as opposed to light, and it is therefore characteristic of all phenomena or beings belonging to the realm of darkness, as the night, the new moon, death ghosts, etc.
   There are two etymologies suggestible both of which may have been blended since Indo-Aryan times:
   1. kāla = Sk. kāla, blue-black, kālī black cloud from *qāl (with which conn. *qel in kalanka spot, kalusa dirty, kammāsa speckled, Gr. κελαινός, Mhg. hilwe mist) = Lat. cālidus spot, Gr. κηλίς spot and κηλάς dark cloud; cp. Lat. cālīgo mist, fog, darkness-
   2. see below, under note
      ■ Hence:
2. the morning mist, or darkness preceding light, daybreak, morning (cp. E. morning = Goth. maúrgins twilight Sk. marka eclipse, darkness; and also gloaming gleaming = twilight), then: time in general, esp. a fixed time, a point from or to which to reckon, i.e. term or terminus (a quo or ad quem)

■ Note. The definition of colour-expressions is extremely difficult. To a primitive colour-sense the principal difference worthy of notation is that between dark and light, or dull and bright, which in their expressions, however, are represented as complements for which the same word may be used in either sense of the complementary part (dark for light and vice versa, cp. E. gleam → gloom). All we can say is that kāla belongs to the group of expressions for dark which may be represented simultaneously by black, blue, or brown. That on the other hand, black when polished or smooth, supplies also the notion of “shining” is evidenced by kāḷa and kaṇha as well as e.g. by *skei in Sk. chāyā = Gr. σκιά shadow as against Ags. hāēven “blue” (E. heaven) and Ohg skīnan, E. to shine and sky. The psychological value of a colour depends on its light-reflecting (or light-absorbing) quality. A bright black appears lighter (reflects more light) than a dull grey, therefore a polished (añjana) black (= sukāḷa) may readily be called “brilliant.” In the same way kāla, combined with other colour-words of black connotation does not need to mean “black,” but may mean simply a kind of black i.e. brown. This depends on the semasiological contrast or equation of the passage in question. Cp. Sk śyāma (dark-grey) and śyāva (brown) under kāsāya. That the notion of the speckled or variegated colour belongs to the sphere of black, is psychologically simple (dark specks against a light ground, cp. kammāsa), and is also shown by the second etymology of kāla = Sk śāra, mottled, speckled = Lat. caerulus, black-blue and perhaps caelum “the blue” (cp. heaven) = Gr. κηρύλος the blue ice-bird. (On k → s cp. kaṇṇa → śṛṇga, kilamati → śramati, kilissati → ślis˚; etc.) The usual spelling of kāla as kāḷa indicates a connection of the ḷ with the r of śāra

■ The definition of kāḷa as jhām’ angārasadisa is conventional and is used both by Bdhgh. and Dhpāla: Dhs-a.317 and Pv-a.90–Pv-a.91

1. Kāḷa, dark, black, etc., in enumⁿ of colours Vv.22#1 (see Vv-a.111). na kāḷo samaṇo Gotamo, na pi sāmo: mangura-cchavi samano G. “The ascetic Gotamo is neither black nor brown: he is of a golden skin” MN.i.246; similarly as kāḷī vā sāmā vā manguracchavī vā of a kalyāṇī, a beautiful woman at DN I.193<

see kāla 1.