Pali

views updated May 23 2018

Pali an Indic language, closely related to Sanskrit, in which the sacred texts of southern Buddhism are written. Pali developed in northern India in the 5th–2nd centuries bc. As the language of the Buddhist sacred texts, it was brought to Sri Lanka and Burma (Myanmar), and, though not spoken there, became the vehicle of a large literature of commentaries and chronicles.

pali-

views updated May 21 2018

pali- (palin-) combining form denoting repetition or recurrence.