釋氏要覽 2.294

2.294

悲華經云。佛言南無者。此決定諸佛世尊名號音聲○唯識鈔云。梵語南無。此翻為名。即是歸趣之義也。或云那摩。或曩謨。皆梵音訛也。

The Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka-sūtra says: The Buddha said that "Namo" refers to the definitive sound of the names and titles of all the Buddhas, the World-Honoured Ones.\n\nThe Weishi chao says: The Sanskrit word "namo" is translated here as "paying homage" (guiming), which signifies taking refuge and heading toward. Some say "nama" or "nangmo", which are all variant Sanskrit pronunciations.