Pali

Pali, also written Pāli, or Magadhan, is an ancient Middle Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is the sacred language of all texts of Theravāda Buddhism.

According to T. W. Rhys Davids, Professor of Pali and Buddhist Literature at University College London, Pali is "the literary language based on (...) a conversational dialect (...) in general use (...) not only throughout the Kosala dominions, but east and west from Delhi to Patna, and north and south from Savatthi to Avanti. (...) Pali is to Sanskrit about as Italian is to Latin." (Buddhist India, p. 153 and p. 128)

Pali is studied because it is the language of the Pali Canon (Tipitaka), and Pali suttas are regarded as records of the actual discourses spoken by the Buddha, in the original language the Buddha himself spoke, and using his very words.