Pali (n.)

Middle High Indian dialect used in sacred Buddhist writings (the lingua franca of northern India from c. 6c. B.C.E.-2c. B.C.E.), 1690s, from Sanskrit Pali, from pali bhasa "language of the canonical books," from pali "line; canon" + bhasa "language."

Trends of Pali

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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Buddha

an epithet applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, 1680s, from Pali, literally "awakened, enlightened," past participle...

Prakrit

collective name for the popular dialects of ancient northern and central India (distinguished from and succeeding Sanskrit), sometimes also applied to modern languages (Hindi, Bengali, etc.), 1766, from Sanskrit prakrta- "natural, original" (opposed to samskrta- "prepared, refine

mayhem

late 15c., "the violent doing of a bodily hurt to another person," from Anglo-French maihem (13c.), from Old French mahaigne "injury, wrong, a hurt, harm, damage;" related to mahaignier "to injure, wound, mutilate, cripple" (see maim). Originally, in law, the crime of maiming a p

realm

c. 1300, reaume, "kingdom, domain under a sovereign, royal jurisdiction," from Old French reaume, later realme, variants (in part by influence of Old French reial "regal," from Latin regalis) of roiaume "kingdom." This is possibly from a Gallo-Romance *regiminem, "formed as

pirate

c. 1300 (mid-13c. as a surname), "a sea-robber, sea-plunderer, one who without authority and by violence seizes or interferes with the ship or property of another on the sea," especially one who is habitually engaged in such robbery or sails the seas for the robbery and plunder o

perfunctory

"done mechanically or without interest or zeal and merely for the sake of being rid of the duty of doing it; done so as to conform to the letter but not the spirit," 1580s, from Late Latin perfunctorius "careless, negligent," literally "like one who wishes to get through a thing,

elf

"one of a race of powerful supernatural beings in Germanic folklore," Old English elf (Mercian, Kentish), ælf (Northumbrian), ylfe (plural, West Saxon) "sprite, fairy, goblin, incubus," from Proto-Germanic *albiz (source also of Old Saxon alf, Old Norse alfr, German alp "evil spi

fiasco

1855, theater slang for "a failure in performance;" by 1862 it had acquired the general sense of "any ignominious failure or dismal flop," on or off the stage. It comes via the French phrase faire fiasco "turn out a failure" (19c.), from Italian far fiasco "suffer a complete brea

compromise

early 15c., "a joint promise to abide by an arbiter's decision," from Old French compromis (13c.), from Late Latin compromissus, past participle of compromittere "to make a mutual promise" (to abide by the arbiter's decision), from com "with, together" (see com-) + promittere "to

mundane

mid-15c., mondeine, "of this world, worldly, terrestrial," from Old French mondain "of this world, worldly, earthly, secular;" also "pure, clean; noble, generous" (12c.) and directly from Late Latin mundanus "belonging to the world" (as distinct from the Church), in classical Lat

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<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/Pali">Etymology of Pali by etymonline</a>

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Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of Pali. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved March 14, 2025, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/Pali

Chicago style:

Harper Douglas, “Etymology of Pali,” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed March 14, 2025, https://www.etymonline.com/word/Pali.

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Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of Pali.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/Pali. Accessed 14 March, 2025.

IEEE style:

D. Harper. “Etymology of Pali.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/Pali (accessed March 14, 2025).

updated on December 17, 2019

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