Lexicons, Nirukta & Buddhist · c. 6th century CE
नक्षत्रमृक्षं भं तारा तारकाप्युडु वा स्त्रियाम् ॥ १.३.२१७ ॥
'A star.' — H.T. Colebrooke (1808)
The commonest classical word for a single star, and the element in the compound yoga-tārā ('junction star') on which the whole nakshatra-identification enterprise rests.
Amarakośa 1.3.217 (Dig-varga) · text · translation