‹ Back to the text

vītadosattā

vītadosatta

nt nom pl of vītadosatta (noun); nt instr sg of vītadosatta (noun); nt abl sg of vītadosatta (noun); nt voc sg of vītadosatta (noun); …

1. freedom from hatred; fact of being free from ill-will; lit. without ill-will state

Built from

• vīta — stem · departed from
  Past participle of vi-i (go apart). The prefix vi- (apart, asunder) marks the separation or removal of what follows.
• dosa — root · hatred, aversion
  Derived from √duṣ (bad, rotten), cognate with Greek dys- (dysfunction). One of the three cardinal defilements in Buddhist psychology.
• -tta — ending · -ness, state
  Abstract nominalizing suffix, forming a neuter noun denoting the quality or state. Here it renders the compound an abstract noun: 'the state of being free from ill-will.'

Analysis. vīta + dosa + tta: 'having departed from (ill-will)' — a nominal compound where vīta (past participle of veti 'departs') modifies dosa (hatred, aversion), and the abstract suffix -tta (state, condition) nominates the whole to mean the condition of having ill-will removed. The form reflects the doctrinal virtue of non-aversion (aversion being one of the three poisons alongside greed and delusion).

Etymology. vīta: past participle of √vi + √i (separate + go), literally 'gone apart from'; dosa: from √duṣ (bad, rotten), cognate with Greek dys- (dysfunction); -tta: abstract suffix from *-tā, forming quality-nouns. The compound expresses a cardinal soteriological idea: the extirpation of aversion (dosa) as a mental defilement.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version