maññasīti

maññati

3rd singular present indicative

thinks; imagines; conceives; presumes; supposes
knows; is convinced; is sure
considers (to be); takes as; regards as; views as; deems as

Built from

man — root · think, mind
The root *men- appears in Sanskrit man-, Greek menos, Latin mens, English mind. It carries the sense of active cognitive engagement and volition.
ñ — stem · thematic nasal
The cluster -ñ- (and its variant -ña-) is a common Pali nasal infix marking the present stem; this is the suffix that builds the weak present stem from the root.
asīti — ending · optative 3rd sg.
The optative mood (-sīti) expresses possibility, condition, or wish in 3rd person singular. Here it marks what one might think or suppose.

Analysis. maññasi-iti: maññasi (3rd sg. opt.) + iti (quotative particle) = 'if he should think' or 'thinking that'; this is a frozen or formulaic combination used in doctrinal contexts to introduce conditional or reported thought.

Etymology. √man 'think, mind' (Sanskrit man-, Greek menos 'spirit, mind', Latin mens 'mind', English mind). The root is ancient Indo-European *men- 'to think, intend'. In Pali doctrine, maññanā (thinking wrongly) typifies ego-clinging; sammāmaññanā (right thinking) marks discernment.

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

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