Dear Oxy,

According to Norman, Pāli Literature (1983: 1):

"The word pāli is found in the chronicles and the commentaries upon the canon, but there is has the meaning "canon" and is used in the sense of a canonical text or phrase as opposed to the commentary (aṭṭhakathā) upon it. The usage is made clear by the fact that the word pāli alternates with tanti."

Norman gives a number of examples in the footnotes from the
Mahāvaṃsa, the Visuddhimagga and the commentaries. So the word in this
usage probably dates from about the 5th century C. E.

Also from Norman: "It would seem that the name "Pāli" is based upon a misunderstanding of the compound pāli-bhāsā "language of the canon," where the word pāli was taken to stand for the name of a particular bhāsā, as a result of which the word was applied to the language of both canon and commentaries..."


It would appear that the first usage of "Pāli" to mean a particular language was in the sixteenth century by Simon de la Loubère. Further details are in Norman's book.

See also von Hinüber, Handbook of Pāli Literature, 1996, §203.


Metta,

Bryan







________________________________
From: dymaxion <oxydymaxion@...>
To: Pali@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 5, 2012 8:14:24 AM
Subject: [Pali] Paali - a name of the language


 
A short note about the name of a Buddhist language.

The name of the language might have been 500-600 old, but not older. I am not absolutely sure , but I think that this present name might be traced back to the 15th century if not the end of the 14th century CE(or 1850 - 1950BE if you prefer a Buddhist chronology).

AggavaMsa referred to the language he described as "Maagadhabhaasaa".(12th century)

Of course that the word "Paali" had existed before it became known as a name of the Theravaada language.

oxy




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