Mantar [n. ag. of mant, cp. Sk. *mantṛ a thinker] a sage, seer, wise man, usually appositionally nom. mantā "as a sage," "like a thinker," a form which looks like a fem. and is mostly expld as such by the Commentaries. Mantā has also erroneously been taken as instr. of manta, or as a so -- called ger. of manteti, in which latter two functions it has been expld at "jānitvā." The form has evidently puzzled the old commentators, as early as the Niddesa; through the Abhp (153, 979) it has come down at mantā "wisdom" to Childers. Kern, Toev. s. v. hesitates and only comes half near the truth. The Index to Pj. marks the word with? <-> S i.57 (+dhīra; trsln "firm in doctrine"); Sn 159 ("in truth," opp. to musā; SnA 204 explnsm.=paññā; tāya paricchinditvā bhāsati), 916 (mantā asmī ti, expld at SnA 562 by "mantāya"), 1040=1042 (=Nd2 497 mantā vuccati paññā etc.); Vv 636 (expld as jānitvā paññāya paricchinditvā VvA 262). -- Besides this form we have a shortened manta (nom.) at Sn 455 (akiñcano+), which is expld at SnA 402 as mantā jānitvā. It is to be noted that for manta -- bhāṇin at Sn 850 the Nd1 219 reads mantā and expls customarily by "mantāya pariggahetvā vācaŋ bhāsati."