The word 'Pali' is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon. The word seems to have its origins in … See more

Pali literature is usually divided into canonical and non-canonical or extra-canonical texts. Canonical texts include the whole of the Pali Canon or Tipitaka. With the exception of three books placed in the Khuddaka … See more

Paiśācī is a largely unattested literary language of classical India that is mentioned in Prakrit and Sanskrit grammars of antiquity. It is found grouped with the Prakrit languages, with which it shares some lingui… See more

Nearly every word in Pāḷi has cognates in the other Middle Indo-Aryan languages, the Prakrits. The relationship to Vedic Sanskrit is less direct and more complicated; the Prakrits were descended from Old Indo-Aryan vern… See more

Vowels may be divided in two different ways:
Long and short vowels are only contrastive in open syllables; in closed syllables, all vowels are always short. Short and long e and o are i… See more

From the opening of the Dhammapada:
The three compounds in the first line literally mean:
manopubbaṅgama "whose precursor is mind", "having mind as a fore-goer or leader" ma… See more