Pali and Sanskrit are closely related languages which both originate from India.
Pali is studied because it is the language of texts from Theravāda Buddhism (which are referred to as the Pali Canon), while Sanskrit is an important language for Hinduism and yoga.
Pali and Sanskrit are both in the Indo-European family of languages. This language family also includes English, Latin, and many of the languages which are spoken in Europe.
Many Pali vocabulary words are similar to the corresponding Sanskrit words.
The table below which lists Pali and Sanskrit vocabulary words side by side, makes it possible to notice some of the patterns in the differences between Pali and Sanskrit.
| Pali | Sanskrit | English |
|---|---|---|
| mitta | मित्र (mitra) | a friend |
| nibbāna | निर्वाण (nirvāṇa) | nirvana |
| dhamma | धर्म (dharma) | teachings of the Buddha |
| sacca | सत्य (satya) | true / truth |
| puñña | पुण्य (puṇya) | merit |
| kamma | कर्मन् (karman) | action / karma |
| pāṇa | प्राण (prāṇa) | breath / life |
| pīti | प्रीति (prīti) | joy |
| paññā | प्रज्ञा (prajñā) | wisdom |
| passati | पश्यति (pasyati) | to see |
| saññā | संज्ञा (saṃjñā) | perception |
| cakka | चक्र (cakra) | wheel / circle |
| canda | चन्द्र (candra) | moon |
| kodha | क्रोध (krodha) | anger |
| siri | श्री (śrī) | splendor / good fortune |
| vijju | विद्युत् (vidyut) | lightning |
| sīha | सिंह (siṃha) | lion |
| niddā | निद्रा (nidrā) | sleep |
| sīsa | शीर्ष (śīrṣa) | head |
| pitu | पितृ (pitṛ́) | father |
| vijjā | विद्या (vidyā) | knowledge |
| saddhā | श्रद्धा (śraddhā́) | confidence |
| dakkhiṇā | दक्षिणा (dakṣiṇā) | donation |
| taṇhā | तृष्णा (tṛ́ṣṇā) | desire / thirst |
| magga | मार्ग (mārga) | path / road |
| majjha | मध्य (madhya) | middle |
| piya | प्रिय (priya) | dear / beloved |
| natta | नक्त (nakta) | night |
| sāmin | स्वामिन् (svāmin) | owner / master |
| dīpa | द्वीप (dvīpa) | island |
| āpa | अप् (ap) | water |
| muddā | मुद्रा (mudrā) | seal |
| maccha | मत्स्य (matsya) | fish |
| sukka | सुख (sukha) | pleasant agreeable |
| sutta | सूत्र (sūtra) | a text / scripture |
| paṭimā | प्रतिमा (pratimā) | an image / a figure |
| dosa | द्वेष (dveṣa) | anger / ill-will |
| dukkha | दुःख (duḥkha) | suffering |
Some of the Pali words which are derived from Sanskrit have shifts in meanings, or additional meanings compared to the original term.
There are also many Pali and Sanskrit vocabulary words which are identical or very similar (aside from the scripts used to write them). Some examples of these are provided in the table below:
| Pali | Sanskrit | English |
|---|---|---|
| sīla | शील (śīla) | morality |
| ānanda | आनन्द (ānanda) | joy / happiness |
| karuṇā | करुणा (karuṇā) | compassion |
| dāna | दान (dāna) | a gift |
| moha | मोह (moha) | delusion |
| nadī | नदी (nadī) | river |
| citta | चित्त (citta) | mind / heart |
| pūjā | पूजा (pūjā) | homage / veneration |
| bīja | बीज (bīja) | seed |
| eka | एक (eka) | one |
| manas | मनस् (manas) | mind |
| maṅgala | मङ्गल (maṅgala) | auspicious |
| gacchati | गच्छति (gacchati) | to go |
| bheda | भेद (bheda) | separation / difference |
| bhavati | भवति (bhavati) | to be / to become |
| hetu | हेतु (hetu) | a cause / a reason |
| loka | लोक (loka) | world |
| jīvati | जीवति (jīvati) | to live |
| mūla | मूल (mūla) | a root |
| bala | बल (bala) | strength / power |
| tvaṃ | त्वम् (tvam) | you |
| guṇa | गुण (guṇa) | a quality |
Sanskrit is an older language than Pali. Sanskrit is over 3000 years old, the oldest known Sanskrit text is the Rigveda which dates from the second millennium BCE. The Pali language is between 2300 and 2500 years old.
In Ancient India, Sanskrit was a literary, scholarly and scriptural language. Alongside Sanskrit were other languages and dialects which were spoken by the ordinary people. These vernacular languages spoken during that period and belonging to the same language family as Sanskrit are called Prakrits.
The term Prakrit comes from the Sanskrit word « प्राकृत » (prākṛta) which means “natural” or “ordinary”. Pali is among the best known languages from this group. (see [1], [2])
The Relationship between Sanskrit and the Prakrits languages is similar to the relationship between the Classical Latin used by Caesar and the form of Latin which was later used by the common people (known as “colloquial Latin” or “vulgar Latin”)
Many prefixes used in Pali are similar to the corresponding Sanskrit prefix.
In both Pali and Sanskrit, the prefix « a- » means “not”.
In both Pali and Sanskrit, the prefix « vi- » is used to express separation or opposition.
There are languages which are closely tied to a particular writing system (for instance Chinese and the Chinese characters, or Russian and the Cyrillic alphabet).
In contrast, Pali and Sanskrit are languages which have been written using a variety of writing systems depending on the epoch and location.
In Thailand, the Thai script has been used to write Pali. In Sri Lanka, Pali has been written with the Sinhala script. In some other places, the Devanagari is used to write Pali. But Pali texts published for an English-speaking audience are usually written in Roman script with some additional diacritical marks.
A variety of different scripts have been used to write Sanskrit, including the Brahmi script, the Devanagari script and the Kannada script. Today, Sanskrit texts which are published for an English-speaking audience are often either in the Devanagari script (which also is used for Hindi and Nepali), or transliterated to the Roman alphabet.
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