KumArila on Dravidian nouns

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KumArila on Dravidian nouns

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In one of the earliest observations in Sanskrit about

Tamil words being different and having independent meanings,

KumArilabhaTTa (7-8th century) mentions that a word-final

vowel "a" is added when tamil words are taken into sanskrit.

What I find is that this process happens also in the opposite

direction even in the early days of Sangam texts. Ie., Sanskrit

words lose word-final "a" when they are borrowed into Tamil.

 

i) Tamil nouns in Sanskrit (with final "a" additions):

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"As for example, in the Dravida language, though all words are used

as ending in the consonant, yet the Aryas are found to assume in

them the affixes, &c., that can be appended only to words ending in

vowels, and thence make the words give a sense, in accordance with

their own (samskrta), language. For instance, when the Dravidas

call 'rice', cor, the Arya reads in it his own word 'cora' (thief),

and comprehends the meaning accordingly. And when the Dravidas call

the road 'atar', he reads it as 'atarah', and declares that as the

road is difficult to cross, it is really 'atara' (uncrossable).

Similarly they call the snake 'pAp,' and he takes it as 'pApa'

(evil), and argues that the snake is really an evil animal. So, too,

in the case of the word 'mAl' which they use in the sense of the

woman, the word is taken as 'mAlA'. The word 'vair', used by them

in the sense of the stomach, is taken as 'vaira' (enemy); and the

use is justified on the ground of the hungry man being capable of

doing many sinful deeds, which proves that the stomach is an enemy

of the man."

[From KumArila bhaTTa's TantravArttika (Vol. I, p 219), transl by Mm

Ganganatha Jha, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1983.]

 

K. Zvelebil, Dravidian linguistics: An introduction, 1990, p. xxii

"The relevant passage concerning Dravidian languages occurs in

KumArila's discussion of mImAmsA sUtra, I.iii.9 where he quotes

five "Dravidian" words as he was aware of them in his time

(7th or 8th cent., A.D.). The sUtra ordains that words borrowed

from mleccha languages and used in the Veda ought to be understood

in the sense they have in these mleccha languages and not to be

ascribed new meanings. KumArila, speaking ironically, says that

when the Aryans hear mleccha words, they add to or drop from them

some sounds and make them resemble Sanskrit words. [...]

 

The words cOr and atar do not present any problem; the first is

DEDR 2897 Tamil cORu (with the final non-morphemic automatic -u

which is phonetically , dropped), the second DEDR 3170 Tamil

atar. PAp obviously represents DEDR 4085 pAmpu (which, acc. to

Burnell, South Indian paleography, p. 126) is given in some of the

best mss. as pAmb. KumArila's mAl is to be connected either

with DEDR 183 Tamil ammAL or it may represent a lax, fricativized

and finally contracted form of Tamil makaL (DEDR 3616,

cf. Malayalam mOL daughter, Kota moL id)."

 

Like makaL related to mAL, mOL, moL etc., in drav. languages,

pAmpu is related with pAppu, poppu, etc., PoppaNa kAGkEyan

of the kogku country is the patron of aTiyArkkunallAr, the famous

commentator of CilappatikAram. pAppu is used for pAmpu 'snake'

in CT akanAn2URu, then in pazamozi, tEvAram and so on. pAppu

is common in names like pAppaiyan2, pAppaNan2 which refer to

Shiva (Compare the drav. names mAyaNan, sAyaNan which refer

to nAraNan(=Narayana)). This "pAppu" is what kumArila quotes as

"pAp". makaL ( > skt. mahila) occurs as mAL also in tamil

(eg., vEL-mAL etc.), which to kumArila is mAl.

 

ii) Sanskrit nouns in Tamil (with final "a" deletions):

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In sangam literature, an important musical instrument is called

vayir. Its descriptions in classical texts make CT commentators

write that their polished surface may come from the turning

of hard-wood in a lathe (Note 1). Also, vayir has a variant,

vayiram which is from skt. vajra "adamantine, gemstone, diamond".

 

Some examples of the loss of -a from Sanskrit nouns when

they get tamilized.

 

a) vayir 'music instrument' < vajira (middle indic) < skt. vajra.

 

b) amar 'battle, war' < skt. samara (Note 2).

 

c) aar 'spoke of a wheel' & skt. aara,

("aar cUz kuRaTTin2" - puRam 283).

 

d) Er 'plough' & skt. sIra,

("Erin2 vAznar" - puRam 375).

 

e) nakar 'town' & skt. nagara,

("mukkaT celvan2 nakarvalam ceyaRkE" - puRam 6).

 

f) amaN 'jain' < (middle indic) samaNa (Cf. skt. zramaNa).

 

g) catur/catir "skill, dance" & skt. catura.

 

Examples (b), © & (d) are given in S. Vaiyapuri Pillai's

essay, "tamizum vaitika vArttaikaLum, pa. 226-248,

tamizin2 maRumalarcci (nURkaLaJciyam tokuti 2)", Madras, 1989.

Note that the loans either way are nouns only.

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan

 

Note 1: CT vayir

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CT has vayiram 'gemstone, diamond' some 17 times. Obviously,

vayiram and skt. vajra are related. It is of interest to note

that vayir comes from hard wood (tirumuruku lines: 119-120),

and it radiates out lustre (CT commentators say this

"vayaGku katir vayir" is perhaps due to the polish gotten

by turning the adamantine wood in a lathe). The musical instrument

vayir and vayiram (Cf. skt. vajra) invite comparison.

 

More on vayir & its relation to skt. vajra:

INDOLOGY/message/1613

 

Note 2: amar < skt. samara

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See:

CTamil/message/421

CTamil/message/419