An Shigao
The Japanese word for a Buddhist temple was anciently also written phonetically 天良, "tera" and is cognate with the Modern Korean "Chǒl" from Middle Korean "Tiel", the Jurchen "Taira" and the reconstructed Old Chinese *"dɘiaʁ", all meaning "Buddhist Monastery". These words are apparently derived from the Aramaic word for "Monastery" "dērā/ dairā/ dēr" (from the root "dwr" "to live together"), rather than from the unrelated and later Indian word for monastery "vihara" and may have been transmitted by the first Central Asian translators of Buddhist scriptures, such as An Shigao or Lokaksema.