Re: Paali

Dear Jim,D. C. and all,

Thanks for this reference. I was unaware of this discussion in Saddanīti.

Saddanīti's author derives it from the root pāl to protect, as well as pāli, "dike, margin, edge, row, line" and ali, "dike" and paṭipāṭī (< Skt. pari-pāṭi, "succession, order" = Pāli pāli, "line", related to Skt. pāra, "shore, end, limit").

The dike refers to a passage in AN 4, 279^10-14where the Buddha talks about building a dike around a lake so the water doesn't overflow, comparing it to Vinaya principles not to be transgressed. The "succession" refers to Pj 2, 8710, re: monks begging for alms in a row (piṇḍāya caramānā rājaṅgaṇe pāḷiyā agamaṃsu). Note Burmese variant paṭipāṭiyā for pāḷiyā.

Childers has many references to the word usage of pāli in the commentaries and chronicles where it is always used in the sense of a "line" of text, as opposed to the commentaries; that is, it means pariyattidhammo.

Mayrhofer also has a discussion of the word's derivation (1963, vol. 2, 263-264) and suggests that it might be the result of "aus mehreren Quellen zusammengeflossen" (flowing together of many sources). Among the possibilities he cites (from various studies) are pāli-bhāsā < paribhāṣā (Skt. "rule, maxim"), perhaps from Dravidian (Kannada pār̤i, "row, line" or Telegu pāḍi "justice, propriety"), or from pra + vṛt or ā + vṛt, "return, revolve, repeat" from which āvali and āli ("row, range") are derived, according to one source.

The primary meaning of pāli seems to be "row" or "line" (and "dam" by extension) which all the above words share (except pal, "to protect", although that too may relate to a "line" of defence), referring to the "line" of Buddha's teaching, either envisaged as the successive words of an transmission, the lines in a single text, or the continuous thread uniting all his teachings. Pāli had the meaning of (a line in) the sacred texts by the time of the commentaries and – as Petra has said – apparently first took on the meaning of an actual language in the 13th century.

Best wishes,

Bryan

From: "'Jim Anderson' jimanderson.on@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 3:50 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Paali

Dear D.C.,

Pāli is certainly not a word coined by PTSD as it is also dealt with in the
Saddanīti, a 12th century text on Pali grammar. There is an excellent
treatment under the root PAL (1594 pāla rakkhaṇe) at Sadd II 562 which I
reproduce below from the CST4 version:

<< Pāla rakkhaṇe. ‘‘Rakkhaṇaṃ, tāṇaṃ, gopanaṃ, avanaṃ, pālanaṃ, rakkhā,
rakkhaṇā, gutti’’ iccete pariyāyā. Pāleti, pālayati. Pālako, buddhapālo.
Ambapālī gaṇikā. Samo bhavatu pālinā. Pālito, pālanaṃ, pāḷi.

Ettha pāḷīti atthaṃ pāletīti pāḷi, lassa ḷattaṃ. Atha vā antodakaṃ
rakkhaṇaṭṭhena mahato taḷākassa thirā mahatīti pāḷi viyāti pāḷi,
pariyattidhammo. Aparo nayo pakaṭṭhānaṃ ukkaṭṭhānaṃ sīlādiatthānaṃ bodhanato
sabhāvaniruttibhāvato buddhādīhi bhāsitattā ca pakaṭṭhānaṃ
vacanappabandhānaṃ āḷīti pāḷi.

Pāḷisaddo pāḷidhamme, taḷākapāḷiyampi ca;

Dissate pantiyañceva, iti ñeyyaṃ vijānatā.

Ayañhi ‘‘pāḷiyā atthamupaparikkhantī’’tiādīsu pariyattidhammasaṅkhāte
pāḷidhamme dissati. ‘‘Mahato taḷākassa pāḷī’’tiādīsu taḷākapāḷiyaṃ. ‘‘Pāḷiyā
nisīdiṃsū’’tiādīsu pantiyaṃ, paṭipāṭiyā nisīdiṃsūti attho. Imasmiṃ panatthe
dhātuyā kiccaṃ natthi. Pāṭipadiko hi pantivācako pāḷisaddo. >>

This is a good starting point for a working definition of "pāḷi" with 3
meanings and 2 derivations. I know that pāḷi in the second sense is found in
the Vinayaptṭaka.

Best wishes,

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dc Wijeratna dcwijeratna@... [palistudy]"
<palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: November 15, 2014 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Paali

The problem with discussions of the language the Buddha spoke is that
people do not define their terms.[L.S. Cousins]

I certainly agree with this remark. It was taught to me in my GCE, OL
science classes. Later it was a fundamental guideline for writing as an
electrical engineer.

In accordance with that I propose that Pali be defined as follows:

Pali corpus: the texts published by the Pali Text Society.

Pali Lexicon: the vocabulary given in the PTS Dictionary by Rhys Davids and
William Stede.

Remark: Pali is a word coined by PTSD. There is a headword there, Pāli
(Pāḷi), which says
"It is the literary language of the early Buddhists, closely related to
Māgadhī."

From the above it follows that the language the Buddha spoke has nothing to
do with Pali. [Pali is a creation of Rhys Davids and William Stede.].

D.C.

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