Note 27 — LECTURE III. The Law (Dharma) and Sacred Scriptures of Buddhism.

Professor Childers thought that Pāli merely meant the language of the line or series of texts, the word pāli like tanti meaning ‘line.’ Pāli differs from the Prākṛit of the Inscriptions, and from that of the dramas, and from that of the Jainas (which is still later and called Ardha-māgadhī), by its retention of some consonants and infusion of Sanskṛit. The Gāthā dialect of the northern books is again different.