Re: Paali

Dear Bryan and Petra

Many thanks for your kind replies.

The word Paali (present usage) means the whole of Pali literature, I agree with that.

However, I don't think that Lord Buddha used a language different from the language used in Kosala at that time. For he spke to kings and beggars royal ladies and prositutes and of course to brahmins and niganthas and paribbajakas, philosophers and scholars.

How did he communicate with them, if he were using a language other than the language his listeners spoke.

Moreover, there is no evidence that anything was written at that time.

Sukhii hotu (May you be happy)

D.C.

On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 8:30 PM, Petra Kieffer-Pülz kiepue@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Dear Bryan,

yes, I think it is the Sri Lankan journal. If you wish, I can send you a scan of this article. You should provide me with your personal email address.

Best,
Petra

Am 07.11.2014 um 15:41 schrieb Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy]:

Dear Petra,

Thanks for the correction and update on Norman's work. I'm not familiar with that journal. Is it the
Journal of the Centre for Buddhist Studies, Sri Lanka? Is it available on line? Date?

Thanks for your help,

Best wishes,

Bryan

From: "Petra Kieffer-Pülz kiepue@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, November 7, 2014 9:03 AM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Paali

Dear Brian, dear D.C.,

one correction. The use of Pāli as a name for the language dates back to the 13th c. CE. It is used first in the Vinayavinicchayaṭīkā which is to be dated to the second third of the 13th c. CE at the earliest. Kate Crosby has written on it (The Origin of Pāli as a Language Name in Medieval Theravāda Literature", JCBSSL Vol. II, 70–116).

Best wishes,
Petra

Am 07.11.2014 um 14:53 schrieb Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy]:

Dear D. C.,

K. R. Norman has a discussion on the origin of the word Pāli in reference to the language on page 1-2 of his Pāli Literature:

"The word pāli is found in the chronicles and the commentaries upon the canon, but there it has the meaning of "canon" and is used in the sense of a canonical text or phrase as opposed to the commentary (aṭṭhakattha) upon it. ...
"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..."

The first person to use the word Pāli in this sense was Simon de la Loubère who visited Thailand in the late seventeenth century.

You can read more about it with all the references in Norman's work,

Best wishes, Bryan

From: "Dc Wijeratna dcwijeratna@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, November 6, 2014 11:03 AM
Subject: [palistudy] Paali

Pali is an English word; Paali is a Pali word
PTSD dictionary gives it the meaning language of the Theravaada canon.

It also says that paali is not found in the Canon. It is in the commentaries.

I have some doubt about the meaning of paali.

Grateful for a clarification.

D.C. Wijeratna

--
Metta is being friendly to everybody

Metta is being friendly to everybody