Indian language in which the Pali
Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of the Theravada
school of Buddhism is written. The name Pali literally
means "text" i.e. the language of the text.
According to ancient scholars the language's original
name was Magadhi. Magadha being a kingdom in which the
Buddha spent many years. Scholars are divided on whether
Pali was actually the language of Magadhi or that it was
spoken by the Buddha. However it is quite possible that
the Buddha spoke several languages and even if he did
not speak Pali he certainly spoke one very similar to
Geiger, Pali Literature and Language, Calcutta,
K.R. Norman, "The language in which the Buddha taught"
in Buddhism and Jainism, Part 1 edited by H.C.
Das, (et al) 1976.