‹ Back to the text

vibbhantacittā

vibbhantacitta

masc nom pl of vibbhantacitta (adj); fem nom sg of vibbhantacitta (adj); fem nom pl of vibbhantacitta (adj); nt nom pl of vibbhantacitta (adj); …

1. with a wandering mind; with runaway thoughts; mentally out of control; lit. spinning mind

Built from

• vi — prefix · apart, scattered
  Intensive and separative prefix; conveys the mind splitting in different directions.
• bbhanta — stem · wandering, roaming
  Past participle of bhavati (or a related root bhaṁ 'to wander, hover'). The doubling of bh shows Pali's phonological history; cognate with Greek pheresthai 'to be carried, drift'.
• citta — stem · mind, thought
  From √cit 'to perceive, be aware'. The feminine nominative ending -ā (surface vibbhantacittā) marks agreement in feminine gender.
• ā — ending · feminine nominative
  Feminine nominative singular or plural ending, here marking agreement with an implicit feminine noun (e.g. bhikkhunī 'nun' or a feminine abstract).

Analysis. vi + bbhanta + citta: vi- 'apart, scattered' + bbhanta 'wandering, roaming' (past participle of bhaṁ, 'to wander') + citta 'mind, thought'. The compound describes a mind spinning in different directions, fragmented by distraction.

Etymology. vibbhanta is the past participle of bhavati via bhaṁ 'to wander, roam', cognate with English 'hover' and Sanskrit bhramati 'turns, wanders'. The vi- prefix adds the sense of scattering or splitting apart, so the whole term means literally 'mind scattered/wandering-apart'.

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

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