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A Taste of Pali
What is Pali?
Pali means “text.” Pali is the language in which the oldest texts of Buddhism are written. In some senses it is an “artificial” language, in that these texts contain traces of dialects from various geographic regions and various points in time. Nevertheless, we can say that Pali is very close to the language actually spoken by the Buddha.
Font
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Bibliography
The material on this page is based on the following sources.
A Pali Grammar by Wilhelm Geiger, translated into English by Batakrishna Ghosh, revised and edited by K. R. Norman. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1994.
Pali-English Dictionary edited by T. W. Rhys Davids and William Stede. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1999.
A Chanting Guide: Pali Passages with English Translations. Ontario, Calif.: The Dhammayut Order in the United States of America, 1994. Inquiries concerning this book may be addressed to: The Secretary, The Dhammayut Order in the United States of America, c/o The Buddhist Temple of America, 5615 Howard Avenue, Ontario, CA 91762 USA. For free distribution only. You may print copies of this work for free distribution. You may re-format and redistribute this work for use on computers and computer networks, provided that you charge no fees for its distribution or use. Otherwise, all rights reserved.
Cases
Pali is an inflected language. The grammatical function of nouns is indicated by case endings rather than (as in English) by prepositions or word order. Pali distinguishes between eight cases. Case endings vary according to the stem of the noun in question. Using the noun bhikkhu (“monk”) as an example:
| Case | Usage | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | Subject of the sentence | bhikkhu | bhikkhavo, -³ |
| Accusative | Direct object of the sentence | bhikkhu½ | bhikkhavo, -³ |
| Instrumental | By or with | bhikkhun± | bhikkh³hi |
| Ablative | From | bhikkhusm±, -umh±, -un± | bhikkh³hi |
| Genitive | Of (possessive) | bhikkhussa, -uno | bhikkh³na½ |
| Dative | To or for | bhikkhussa, -uno | bhikkh³na½ |
| Locative | In | bhikkhusmi½, -umhi | bhikkh³su |
| Vocative | “O” (used when addressing) | bhikkhu | bhikkavo, -ave, ³ |
Transliteration system
| Vowels | a | ± | i | ² | u | ³ | e | o |
| Gutturals | k | kh | g | gh | ª | |||
| Palatals | c | ch | j | jh | ñ | |||
| Retroflexes | µ | µh | ¹ | ¹h | º | |||
| Dentals | t | th | d | dh | n | |||
| Labials | p | ph | b | bh | m | |||
| Liquids | r | l | ¼ | ¼h | ||||
| Semi-vowels | y | v | ||||||
| Sibilant | s | |||||||
| Aspiration | h | |||||||
| Niggah²ta | ½ |
Examples
Araha½
samm±-sambuddho bhagav±.
Worthy
[is] the thoroughly, fully-enlightened Blessed One.
araha½ is the nominative singular of arahant. The usual nominative singular of adjectives and nouns in -ant would be -± or -anto. But this was originally a present participle (of arahati, meaning deserving or worthy). As such it retains the nominative singular ending -a½½.
samm± means rightly, properly, thoroughly, etc. This is the same word as appears in the elements of the Noble Eightfold Path (right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration).
sambuddho is the nominative singular of sambuddha, meaning the fully or completely awakened or enlightened one.
bhagav± is the nominative singular of bhagavant. It is a common title for the Buddha and means the fortunate one, illustrious one, or Blessed One. It is derived from bhaga meaning luck, lot or fortune.
Buddha½ bhagavanta½
abhiv±demi.
The enlightened Blessed
One I honor.
buddha½ is the accusative singular of buddha which means the awakened or enlightened one. Strictly speaking it is a title or description rather than a name. It is derived from a verbal root that simply means to awaken.
bhagavanta½ is the accusative singular of bhagavant.
abhiv±demi is the first person singular of abhiv±deti which is the causative of abhivadati. It means I salute, greet, welcome or honor.
Sv±kkh±to bhagavat±
dhammo.
Well-expounded by the
Blessed One [is] the Dhamma.
sv±kkh±to is the nominative singular of sv±kkh±ta, meaning well-preached, well-proclaimed, well-expounded
bhagavat± is the instrumental singular of bhagavant
dhammo is the nominative singular of dhamma. This word has many meanings. Here it means teaching, instruction or doctrine.
Dhamma½
namass±mi.
To the Dhamma I pay
homage.
dhamma½ is the accusative singular of dhamma.
namass±mi is the first person singular of namassati. It means I honor, venerate, or pay homage to. The noun nama means homage or veneration.
Supaµipanno bhagavato
s±vaka-saªgho.
Well-practiced [is]
the Blessed One’s Sangha of disciples.
su- is a prefix meaning good or well
paµipanno is the first person singular of paµipanna which is the past participle of paµipajjati meaning to follow a path or method, i.e. to practice
bhagavato is the genitive singular of bhagavant
s±vaka means a hearer or disciple
saªgho is the nominative singular of saªgha meaning an assembly
Saªgha½
nam±mi.
To the Sangha I bow
down.
saªgha½ is the accusative singular of saªgha
nam±mi is the first person singular of namati which means to bend or bend down
Further resources
Dictionary
The University of Chicago has put the Pali Text Society’s Pali English Dictionary online at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/paliGrammars and primers
The folks at MettaNet have made various grammars and teach-yourself books available online at http://www.metta.lk/pali-utils/index.htmlTexts
The Sri Lankan edition of the Pali Tipitaka is at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/index.htmlThe Burmese edition including commentaries and subcommentaries is at http://www.tpitaka.org/
The Journal of Buddhist Ethics publishes the Sri Lanka Tipitaka Project’s version of the Pali Canon online
Discussion group for Pali
There is a Yahoo! Group for Pali students at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PaliEncyclopedia entries for Pali
Encyclopedia
Britannica
Columbia
Encyclopedia
Pali book distributors
The Pali Text Society in Oxford,
England, publishes many Pali literary and reference texts and distributes
them to countries outside of North America
Pariyatti Book Service distributes
Pali Text Society and other Pali books in the United States and
Canada
Pali on the internet
A Guide to Learning
the Pali Language by John Bullitt
Pali Language Sources and
Resources from the Santivihara Foundation
Information on Fonts and Encodings for
Pali
Fonts for Pali and a
whole host of other languages, from SIL International
How
to use Diacritics for Romanized Indic Text on the WWW by Christopher
J. Fynn
Book recommendations
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Wisdom Publications has made available recent English translations of the Digha Nikaya, the Majjhima Nikaya, and the Samyutta Nikaya. |
Clicking on a book’s title will present you with an opportunity to purchase it from Amazon.com.
