Editing Pali (section)

====Early Western research====
Pali was first mentioned in Western literature in [[Simon de la Loubère]]'s descriptions of his travels in the kingdom of Siam.<ref name=Norman/> An early grammar and dictionary was published by Methodist missionary Benjamin Clough in 1824, and an initial study published by [[Eugène Burnouf]] and [[Christian Lassen]] in 1826 (''Essai sur le Pali, ou Langue sacrée de la presqu'île au-delà du Gange'').<ref name=Norman/> The first modern Pali-English dictionary was published by Robert Childers in 1872 and 1875.<ref name=dict_hist>{{cite journal |last1=Gethin |first1=Rupert |last2=Straube |first2=Martin |title=The Pali Text Society's A Dictionary of Pāli |journal=Bulletin of Chuo Academic Research Institute (Chuo Gakujutsu Kenkyūjo Kiyō) |year=2018 |volume=47 |pages=169–185 |url=https://www.cari.ne.jp/search/detail/paper/id/779}}</ref> Following the foundation of the [[Pali Text Society]], English Pali studies grew rapidly and Childer's dictionary became outdated.<ref name=dict_hist/> Planning for a new dictionary began in the early 1900s, but delays (including the outbreak of World War I) meant that work was not completed until 1925.<ref name=dict_hist/>

[[T.&nbsp;W.&nbsp;Rhys Davids]] in his book ''Buddhist India'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Rhys Davids |first=T. W. |author-link=Thomas William Rhys Davids |chapter=Language and Literature |title=Buddhist India |chapter-url=http://fsnow.com/text/buddhist-india/chapter9.htm |year=1903 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |access-date=14 June 2010}}</ref> and [[Wilhelm Geiger]] in his book ''Pāli Literature and Language'', suggested that Pali may have originated as a [[lingua franca]] or common language of culture among people who used differing dialects in North India, used at the time of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] and employed by him. Another scholar states that at that time it was "a refined and elegant vernacular of all Aryan-speaking people".<ref>Hazra, Kanai Lal. ''Pāli Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study.'' D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 11.</ref> Modern scholarship has not arrived at a consensus on the issue; there are a variety of conflicting theories with supporters and detractors.<ref>Hazra, Kanai Lal. ''Pāli Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study.'' D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, pages 1–44.</ref> After the death of the Buddha, Pali may have evolved among Buddhists out of the language of the Buddha as a new artificial language.<ref>Hazra, Kanai Lal. ''Pāli Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study.'' D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 29.</ref> R. C. Childers, who held to the theory that Pali was Old Magadhi, wrote: "Had Gautama never preached, it is unlikely that Magadhese would have been distinguished from the many other vernaculars of Hindustan, except perhaps by an inherent grace and strength which make it a sort of [[Tuscan dialect|Tuscan]] among the Prakrits."<ref>Hazra, Kanai Lal. ''Pāli Language and Literature; a systematic survey and historical study.'' D.K. Printworld Lrd., New Delhi, 1994, page 20.</ref>