Pali Dictionaries

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

A couple of handy references, for anyone interested in looking up the meaning of certain Pali words!

For me, the first port of call is usually...

Buddhist Dictionary - Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, by Nyanatiloka
http://www.palikanon.com/english/wtb/dic_idx.html

... and if I'm still in doubt or need more precision on the term, I turn to...

The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/

Does anyone else have any dictionaries, especially on-line ones, that they find useful?

Metta,
Retro.

[appicchato]

Here's one for starters Paul...I've got more, just have to find them...

http://www.dicts.info/dictionary.php?l1 ... rch=Search

[Dhammakid]

Thank you noble sirs. I am very interested in learning to speak and read Pali fluently, and these dictionaries are a great start for a newbie like me. I do understand, however, that learning fluent Pali is an undertaking mostly likely not fit for an inexperienced lay person such as myself. I figure I'd have to travel overseas or become a monk before I could do that.

Am I right? Or are there opportunities in the States allowing one to learn fluent Pali?

Namaste,
Dhammakid

[Dhammanando]

Hi Dhammakid,

Thank you noble sirs. I am very interested in learning to speak and read Pali fluently, and these dictionaries are a great start for a newbie like me. I do understand, however, that learning fluent Pali is an undertaking mostly likely not fit for an inexperienced lay person such as myself.

Am I right?

I think it would take a lot of work, for rather scant rewards. Who would you want to talk to in Pali? Even among monks the language is usually only learned for the sake of reading and translating texts, and there aren't many who can actually speak it. Generally it's only used when two monks meet and Pali is their only shared language (e.g. when the Burmese monk U Pandita went to visit the Thai abbot of Wat Boworniwet some years ago, or when I once had to look after some elderly monolingual Sinhalese monks).

Or are there opportunities in the States allowing one to learn fluent Pali?

I don't know about the States. In England I've heard that this is something that Prof. Gombrich expected of his students, but he's retired now.

Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu

[Dhammakid]

Yes yes, for sure it wouldn't be incredibly useful other than for translating and reading the canon. Which, as it turns out, is exactly what I would like to do. I'm going to be honest - I think it would be really cool to have a complete set of the Pali language canon in my future house and be able to read it for myself, without relying on others' interpretations. But I'm not hell-bent on learning Pali. Buying the English language canon will do just fine

Namaste,
Dhammakid

[ShinMeiDokuJoh]

here is a Pali in Thai Script and English translation dictionary:

http://www.nkgen.com/buddhist/buddhist.htm unfortunately there is no romanized version included.


Sometimes I insert longer Pali in Thai script t text here and get a hint of the pronunciation: http://www.thai2english.com

Anobody knows such an online dictionary also providing the Romanized pronunciation?

Here some pdf files: http://www.tipitaka.org/thai-dict

[Nyanatusita]

There are two handy dictionaries Pali–English and English–Pali Dictionary, and Concise Pali English Dictionary (= Pali Lookup) by Ven. Buddhadatta available for download at http://www.bps.lk/onlinelibrary.asp
The Concise Pali English Dictionary is handier than the PTS dictionary and sometimes gives better or different meanings of words, especially with regards plant and animal names, etc. The Concise Pali English Dictionary is included in the Pali–English and English–Pali Dictionary. The Pali Lookup version, which is a bit more user friendly, gives the declensions and inflections of nouns and verbs.
Regards,
Bh Nyanatusita

[fig tree]

There are two handy dictionaries Pali–English and English–Pali Dictionary, and Concise Pali English Dictionary (= Pali Lookup) by Ven. Buddhadatta available for download at http://www.bps.lk/onlinelibrary.asp

I don't know whether anyone can help, but I tried downloading and installing the Pali–English and English–Pali Dictionary from that page, and it will run, I can do some little things like change the background color, but as soon as I type anything in the search window, it pops up an error, "error 713, class not registered", and a long "class id".

Fig Tree

Edit: I see now that from the "Help" menu, you can get additional instructions on how to install it, and it says one needs to install MS-Office. That could easily be the problem.

[fig tree]

The Pali Lookup version, which is a bit more user friendly, gives the declensions and inflections of nouns and verbs.

This one installed on my system with no trouble at all. If I search for "buddha", it gives me not only the familiar noun, but the definition as the past participle of "bujjhati": known, understood, perceived. I imagine this could be useful for we who are not yet familiar with Pali grammar.

It seems a number of people deserve credit for this one:

Copyright 2002 Aukana Trust

The main dictionary used by the system is: Pali-English Dictionary Version 1.0 created by a group of foreign monks in Sri Lanka. It is an electronic, public-domain edition based primarily on A.P.Buddhadatta Mahathera's Concise Pali-English and English-Pali Dictionary, expanded with a series of corrections and additions."

Fig Tree

[DhammaDan]

I've found this one to be quite useful:

http://zencomp.com/greatwisdom/ebud/dict-ep/

You can look up words in either English or Pali. The vocabulary also contains the appropriate diacritics so as to properly understand the transliteration.

[clw_uk]

Im having the same problem, keeps saying error when i start to look up a word.

[sherubtse]

I've found this one to be quite useful:

http://zencomp.com/greatwisdom/ebud/dict-ep/

You can look up words in either English or Pali. The vocabulary also contains the appropriate diacritics so as to properly understand the transliteration.

DhammaDan:

The link that you provided was for the English-to-Pali dictionary.

Here is the link for the Pali-to-English dictionary, based upon the famous hardcopy edition by the Ven. A.P. Buddhadatta Mahathera:

http://zencomp.com/greatwisdom/ebud/dict-pe/index.htm

It is a good one for a "rank amateur" like myself.

With metta,
Sherubtse

[cooran]

Hi Dhammakid,

Thank you noble sirs. I am very interested in learning to speak and read Pali fluently, and these dictionaries are a great start for a newbie like me. I do understand, however, that learning fluent Pali is an undertaking mostly likely not fit for an inexperienced lay person such as myself.

Am I right?

I think it would take a lot of work, for rather scant rewards. Who would you want to talk to in Pali? Even among monks the language is usually only learned for the sake of reading and translating texts, and there aren't many who can actually speak it. Generally it's only used when two monks meet and Pali is their only shared language (e.g. when the Burmese monk U Pandita went to visit the Thai abbot of Wat Boworniwet some years ago, or when I once had to look after some elderly monolingual Sinhalese monks).

Or are there opportunities in the States allowing one to learn fluent Pali?

I don't know about the States. In England I've heard that this is something that Prof. Gombrich expected of his students, but he's retired now.

Best wishes,
Dhammanando Bhikkhu

Hello Ajahn,

There are some who are able to converse in Pali if the necessity arises.

Michael Aris who was an explorer and writer on Tibet and the Himalayas, and also, before his untimely death at the age of 53 years, was the husband of the Burmese political prisoner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was just such a one who could speak Pali.

The last time he was in Burma (well before his final illness), he was shadowed by english/burmese speaking intelligence officers. It was only in the presence of Pali speaking Sayadaws that they were able to converse in private in the Pali language with the puzzled I.O.'s looking blank.
He was never allowed back again, with the result that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi wasn't able to comfort him or say good-bye when he was dying of cancer.

metta
Chris

[Jechbi]

Just found this Buddhist dictionary.

[mikenz66]

Hi Jechbi,

Yes, that's a useful reference. For on-line use, this version is handy:
http://what-buddha-said.net/library/Bud ... ict.n2.htm

However, it's not really a "Pali Dictionary" in the sense of being useful for translating a whole Pali sentence. It's an explanation of key Theravada concepts using the Pali terms for them.

Metta
Mike

[suriya_ctha]

Its quite helpful.. Nowadys, pali language juz use in chantin, prayers etc.. Normaly, if monk/bhante frm Sri lankan, they used sinhala/singalese.. Pali is used when ancient time...

[nowheat]

Thanks to everyone who has already posted online dictionaries.

Now for "the other" question (the old-fashioned question): which are the best hard copy Pali-English dictionaries?

[David N. Snyder]

I have the PTS one in hard copy and it is very good. But now I mostly use the online editions, since it is easier to just open another tab and look up a word.

[David N. Snyder]

MettaNet, Sri Lanka:

http://dhammawiki.com/index.php?title=C ... glish-Pali (English to Pali)
http://dhammawiki.com/index.php?title=C ... li-English (Pali to English)

[Kare]

The PTS dictionary is also available in a scanned version, for free download:

http://www.archive.org/details/palitextsocietys00pali