At what point were punctuation marks introduced into the Pali texts?
How much do translators use that punctuation when translating?
E.g., the first stanza of Thig 6.5 in Pali is punctuated:
“Ucce kule ahaṃ
bahuvitte mahaddhane;
Vaṇṇarūpena sampannā,
dhītā majjhassa atrajā.
which Bhante @Sujato translates as:
I was born into an eminent family,
affluent and wealthy,
endowed with a beautiful complexion and figure;
Majjha’s true-born daughter.
Bhante Sujato’s placement of the semi-colon reads more naturally in the English. But departs from the punctuation in the Pali text. So I’m wondering how much a translator sees the punctuation as part of the text, and how much he/she sees it as the addition of later editors–a guide to one way of understanding the text, but not part of the text itself.
Thank you.