metta = mitra (in sanskrit) = friend
metta bhavana = maitri (in sanskrit) = friendship / friendliness (which in
its dhamma sense gets intensified to "loving kindness")

hope this helps.

cheers.
__________________________________

On 12/23/07, henntsp <henntsp@...> wrote:
>
> Metta is commonly translated as love,loving kindness etc.
>
> Does anyone know it's literal translation into English?
>
> Do you know the root meaning of Metta? e.g. is it two words? met and
> ta? Does it have a compareable word in Sanskrit?
>
> If anyone is aware of this I would greatly appreciate your help.
>
>
>


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