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sammādiṭṭhimpahaṁ

sammādiṭṭhi

accusative singular masculine (sammādiṭṭhimpahaṁ = sammādiṭṭhi-m-pahaṁ, a contraction with pahaṁ 'by', instrumental/ablative)

1. right view
2. correct understanding (first factor of the Eightfold Path)
3. right opinion

Built from

• sam — prefix · together
  Brings things into one place; intensifies and completes. Works like Latin con-.
• ā — prefix · toward, up to
  Reverses or completes the motion of the root; here toward the speaker's understanding.
• diṭṭh — root · see, perceive
  From √drs (Sanskrit dṛś). Cognate with English 'sight', German 'zeigen'.
• i — ending · feminine nominative singular
  Marks the noun class; -ī becomes -i before consonants. Feminine because diṭṭhi is grammatically feminine.
• m — ending · accusative singular
  Object marker, here serving the oblique case in the idiomatic phrase sammādiṭṭhimpahaṁ.
• pahaṁ — root · by, through (instrumental)
  Frozen instrumental form of a locative particle; used idiomatically to mean 'by means of', 'on account of'.

Analysis. sammā 'rightly, well' (sam + ā, placing-together-toward) + diṭṭhi 'view, opinion' (past participle of dassati 'see'). The compound sammādiṭṭhi is one of the eight components of the Noble Eightfold Path (sammā-diṭṭhi, sammā-saṅkappa, etc.); sammādiṭṭhimpahaṁ is the accusative ('by means of right view') used in contexts like 'one accomplishes the Path by right view'.

Etymology. sam + ā + dassati (√drs 'see'); diṭṭhi is the feminine verbal noun. English cognates: dis-, Latin dis- (different directions); English 'see'; Greek 'view' (theōria, from theaomai 'to see'). Sammā places things together (sam-) and draws them toward (ā-) a single direction—hence 'rightly' and 'well'.

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

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