What does "parmi" mean?

Question

In a lot of Italian operas, I frequently hear the word "parmi". Either used in the middle of a sentence, or in the beginning of the final cabaletta in *L'Assedio di Corinto*.Yet, no translation service or dictionary I've checked has this word. I've studied Italian for a year, so in the aria's name *Parmi vederlo*, I know that *vederlo* is *see it*. So my thought is it might be Pare+mi, as an imperative case, but *pare* is not the infinitive of any verb I can find. And even if you use *parere* the context doesn't make sense, since the sentence would seem to read like "It seems to see it...".For context, the full sentence is, "Parmi vederlo, ahi misero vicino a morte orribile."Any help with this?

Answer 1

It's a bit archaic. Nowadays you can use "mi pare" literally "it seems to me". Sometimes, the meaning can be associated to "I think".

The sentence "Parmi vederlo, ahi misero vicino a morte orribile." Can be translated in "I feel I can see it, oh poor him close to an horrible death"

Answer 2

it seems to me, it appears as,