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hitānukampī

masc nom sg of hitānukampī (adj); masc nom pl of hitānukampī (adj); fem nom sg of hitānukampī (adj); nt nom pl of hitānukampī (adj); …

1. compassionate for the welfare of; concerned for the good of

Built from

• hita — root · well-being, welfare
  Past participle of √dhā 'to place'; means 'placed well, beneficial'. Related to Sanskrit hita and Indo-European √dhē (place, put), seen in Greek thē- and Latin facere.
• anu — prefix · along, following, toward
  Marks movement along or in sympathy with another; here signals compassion felt alongside the other's condition. Greek ana- in the sense 'along, up through'.
• kamp — root · tremble, shake, feel
  To move with emotion or sympathy; in this context, the inner tremor of compassion. No common European cognates.
• ī — ending · agent suffix
  Masculine/feminine nominative singular agent noun; marks one who habitually performs the action (here, feels compassion).

Analysis. hitānukampī = hita (well-being, welfare) + anukampī (compassionate). The compound expresses the idea of one who is compassionate toward (anu-) the welfare of another. The first member hita is the past participle of √dhā 'to place/put', hence 'placed well' or 'beneficial'; the second is formed from √kamp 'to tremble/move with feeling' with the prefix anu- 'along, following', yielding 'one who trembles along with, feels compassionate toward'.

Etymology. hita: from √dhā (place, put) + past participle suffix -ta, cognate with Sanskrit hita, Greek thē- (place), Latin fac- (do, make). anukampī: from anu- (along, following) + √kamp (to move, shake, feel compassion); √kamp shows no common cognates but is native Pali/Sanskrit. The combination yields the specialized sense of 'one disposed toward the welfare of another', a key virtue in Buddhist ethics.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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