Sati is often found translated as mindfulness or recollection.
It is the seventh member of the noble eight-membered way on the path heading to the cessation of suffering. And it is said of sati that it means memory. It would be handy if a translation could be done by meaning and by letter but memory doesn't quite fit and recollection or mindfulness are used. Now, mindfulness, or awareness, would be sampajañña, see SN 47,2 and SN 47.35, so we can quickly skip that as a valid interpretation. But let's look into sati a bit more. First textual, by looking at what is called sati (SN 45.8) and then practical, discoverable, by looking at the noble eight-membered way as here these members lead on from one to another. So with recollection for sati we would get:
As to what is called recollection:
'Here, almsmen, an almsman looking into body dwells in body as the ardent aware recollector would be disciplining the avarice and distress about the world ... feelings ... mind ... principles ... This is called, almsmen, right recollection.'
And as member of the noble eight-membered way:
'With right view, right attitude; with right attitude, right speech; with right speech, right doing; with right doing, right way of life; with right way of life, right exertion; with right exertion, right recollection; with right recollection, right concentration'.
And so, recollection would take some justification to make it seem to work; that what is called sati doesn't quite look like what we would expect to see for what recollection, or memory, is at all, and it doesn't flow quite smoothly from the previous member into the following one either. So it doesn't quite work. Then let's approach sati differently.
What we know is that right exertion enables right sati and right sati enables right concentration. The four radiances (jhanā) are the summit of right concentration and from the second one on thoughts and thinking (vitakkavicāra) are not present any more. And that means that in sati they are. Right exertion creates desire, exerts and applies vigour, strains and confronts the mind for the (non)-arising of (un)arisen (un)wholesome principles. So when right exertion is exerted what is then here left to do? We can't say 'to stop thoughts and thinking' because that stilling belongs to the next member, so what is left?
Normally we dwell in the world, going after all sorts of interesting experiences. We can dwell in a book, we can dwell in the past, but when not falling for that, then what is there left to dwell in? Body, if what is looked into is body, or feelings if what looked into are feelings, or mind ... or principles ... thus to dwell in one's own domain is here what is left to do. Suppose someone is reading a book, quite absorbed, oblivious to the world outside. It can happened that when a person calls them they would not hear it. It doesn't mean they don't hear sounds; suppose there was music playing and that gets stopped, this might get noticed even though they where oblivious to what was playing; it just all became background noise. So this person is absorbed while they are seen turning the pages, while the story is very much alive for them. We can call this being absorbed, dwelling, living, in the story but how would you call it when someone sets aside the avarice and distress about the world, draws back from the outside world, in order to turn inwards, to their own domain?
I would call this meditating. So, let's see if it would fit the two points:
As to what is called meditation:
'Here, almsmen, an almsman looking into body dwells in body as the ardent aware meditator would be disciplining the avarice and distress about the world ... feelings ... mind ... principles ... This is called, almsmen, right meditation.'
So far it fits nicely;
And as member of the noble eight-membered way:
'with right exertion, right meditation; with right meditation, right concentration.'
Here too it flows smoothly right? That meditation sides with concentration is something even people who don't know anything about the noble eight-membered way might say; it is not strange to see that the training to advance in mind would involve meditation. Right meditation enables right concentration.
It doesn't seem to be the case that sati, in this context, must mean memory. It is not used that way, not in the translations nor in the Pāḷi. By looking at that what is called sati and it's place on the path we got a fitting rendering which even might be done by the letter, for all I know it could be a homonym. I used to find meditation vague 'what is it you do?' but explained as dwelling in body, feeling, mind, principles, so to turn inwards into one's own domain, and by telling what is preliminary done through right exertion 'by removing the avarice and distress about the world' it became quite practical.
Pāḷi-English
Sati (f.) meditation.