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mettacittohamasmi

mettacittohami

1st person singular present indicative of mettacittohaṁ, a contraction/fusion form from mettacittena ahaṁ asmi (literally "with a kindly heart I am")

1. I am with a kindly heart
2. I abide in loving-kindness
3. I dwell with benevolence

Built from

• metta — root · loving-kindness
  From √mi- 'to smile or be friendly'; indicates the emotional warmth at the heart of Buddhist compassion practice.
• citta — root · heart, mind
  From √cit- 'to perceive or think'; the organ of consciousness and intention in Pali Buddhist psychology.
• ha — stem · I (fused)
  Contraction of the nominative pronoun ahaṁ 'I' absorbed into the verbal form; marks the speaker as the agent.
• mi — ending · 1st sg. present
  The thematic present marker, indicating present-tense affirmation in the first person singular.

Analysis. metta-citta-ha-mi: metta ('loving-kindness, friendliness') + citta ('heart, mind') + ha (contraction of ahaṁ 'I') + mi (1st sg. pres. ending). The surface form shows Pali's tendency to absorb pronouns and merge inflected phrases into single orthographic units in verse and formulaic speech.

Etymology. metta (from √mi- 'to smile, be friendly'; related to Sanskrit mitra 'friend') + citta (from √cit- 'to perceive, think'; cognate with English cognition, Latin cogitare). The compound expresses the doctrinal virtue of mettā (one of the four brahmaviharas or divine abodes in Buddhist practice).

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

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