When was punctuation introduced into Pali text?

Q & A
#1

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. :pray:

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#2

Punctuation is 100% an introduction by modern authors. Well, almost. But in verses, this is definitely the case. The punctuation in the MS edition as you see here is purely conventional: all verses have the same pattern. I ignore the verse punctuation when translating and I’m sure any other translator does, too.

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#3

Thank you, Bhante @sujato :pray:

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