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paṭisammodamānā

paṭisammodamāna

masc nom pl of paṭisammodamāna (prp); fem nom sg of paṭisammodamāna (prp); fem nom pl of paṭisammodamāna (prp); nt nom pl of paṭisammodamāna (prp); …

1. talking in a friendly manner (with); exchanging greetings

Built from

• paṭi — prefix · back, in return
  Marks the reciprocal or counter-directional sense; friends exchange greetings back and forth.
• sam — prefix · together, with
  Brings the participants into one communicative act; the prefix works like Latin con- to bind actions together.
• mod — root · rejoice, be pleased
  Sanskrit mudita, the delight in others' happiness; the root carries the sense of friendly pleasure and cheerful speech.
• a — stem · thematic vowel
  Marks this as a class 4 thematic verb stem, used to derive the present participle.
• mān — ending · present participle
  The participle suffix -māna marks simultaneous ongoing action, here showing friends actively engaged in reciprocal greeting.

Analysis. paṭi (back, in return) + sam (together) + modati (rejoices, chats) — acting in friendly reciprocal exchange; the two-directional prefix paṭi transforms sam-modati into mutual conversation.

Etymology. paṭi- (back, against, in return; cognate with Greek pros, Latin contra) + sam- (together; cognate with English same, Latin similis) + √mud (to rejoice, be pleased; related to Sanskrit mudita, the Buddhist joy-in-others virtue). The spatial imagery of paṭi- (leaning back toward) and sam- (bringing together) creates the sense of friends turning toward each other in mutual delight.

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

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