What did Pali become?

[Tonstad39]

looking at the wikipedia page for Pali language among other resources, one thing is apparant. Pali is a dead language not spoken by any ethnic group and seems to only be used in sanghas and Buddhist teachers to understand texts written twenty-three hundred years ago. Why did people stop speaking Pali in the 1st century BC? What did Pali become? Is the language native to Nepal or Sri Lanka?

The reason I am interested is this: I’m trying to decorate my house for halloween trick or treaters. I want to write on my front door in marker “House of sweet dew” (reference to a chant that my Sangha does) in a traditional language of Buddhism. English is a pain to translate into Pali, so i’m wondering what Pali became so I could have an easier time scrawling the indic texts on my door. (before you ask, no i can’t read the devangari script)

 

[crossfire]

I would say that Hindustani would be the closest modern derivation, but it is not a traditional language of Buddhism, as Buddhism had basically left India by the time Hindi and Urdu developed. I would probably just use the language your Sangha uses, or stick to English for the decorations.

A decorative skull could be seen as a Mahayana Buddhist symbol, but I'm unsure how it would be seen in a Theravadan context.

 

[Aupmanyav]

In Buddha region (Nepal, States of India - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh), the following languages are spoken today. They will have words derived from or from the same root as in Pali:
Nepāli (12.3 m), Bhojpuri (33 m), Awadhi (25.3 m), Māgadhi (14 m), Maithili (12.2 m), etc.
List of languages by number of native speakers in India - Wikipedia

In Hindi the translation will be "Mithi os ka ghar". (Sweet - Mithi, Dew - Os, ka - of, House - Ghar)

Sanskrit has many words for dew, so it is your choice: Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit
The popular ones are: Tushāra, Tuhinā, Nīhāra, Dānu.

Sweet is 'Madhu' and House is 'Griha'. So it could be "Madhu Tushar Griha'

In Urdu, it is 'Shabnam' (Wetness of night). Sanskrit also has similar words for dew: Nishajal, Ratrijal.

 

[Tonstad39]

Thank you for your help, I wanted an eastern theme for my halloween decorations (that is if my landlord doesn't mind) hence the indic texts. It's My first halloween as a man of faith and i figured i might as well my newfound spirituality as decoration. Seeing as the sangha that I go to is a Zen center, they use a mix of English and Japanese for chants (Zen buddhism is as I understand it, a derivative of the way Buddhism is practiced in Nihon)