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dhārethāti
dhāreti
3rd person singular present of dhāreti; optative/conditional base dhāretha + iti (reported speech frame)
- holds up; holds out; lit. carries
- carries; bears
- bears in mind; keeps in mind; remembers (something about); lit. carries
- owes (a debt) (to); lit. carries
- wears; dresses (in); lit. carries
- considers; accepts (something as); lit. carries
Built from
- dhā — root · hold, carry, bear
The core sense is physical bearing of weight; extended to carrying in mind (memory), bearing responsibilities (obligation), and wearing (carrying on the body). Cognates: Sanskrit dhṛ, Greek thairein.
- r — stem ·
Thematic vowel and nasal infix marking the present stem of class 1 verbs.
- etha — ending · optative 3rd sg.
The optative mood signals possibility, wish, or in narrative contexts (with iti), reported or deliberated speech. Here it frames the quoted or thought utterance.
- iti — prefix · thus, so
Quotative particle marking the boundary of direct or reported speech; literally 'thus' (from √i 'to go'), it frames what precedes as an utterance or thought.
Analysis. dhāretha (optative 3rd sg. of dhāreti) + iti (quotative particle 'thus, so'); the optative in narrative marks deliberation or reported thought.
Etymology. √dhṛ 'to hold, bear' (Sanskrit dhṛ, Greek thairein 'to dare'—both descend from PIE *dher- 'to hold, support'). The prefix-less root appears in dhāreti, dhamma (what is held, law), and dhana (holding, wealth). The concrete sense of bearing weight becomes the metaphorical bearing of responsibility, memory, and moral obligation.