Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s2.t2: 3.2.2 Lexical items

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s2.t2

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3.2.2 Lexical items

The Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions are relatively richer in verbs when compared to similar brief votive inscriptions in Prakrit. 15 verb stems are attested in the inscriptions, all of which are Dravidian in origin.

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(e.g.) *aṟu* 'to cut', *āku* 'to become', *ī* 'to give', *ēvu* 'to command', *koṭu* 'to give', *cey* 'to make', *toṭu* 'to excavate', *piṟa* 'to be born', *puṇaru* 'to compose' and *vai* 'to endow'.

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Verb forms occurring in the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions belong mainly to the following categories:

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intransitive, transitive and causative forms; past and non-past tenses; participial and verbal nouns; adjectival participles and the infinitive.

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(ii) *Adjectives

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Reflecting the Old Tamil tradition of prefixing attributes to personal and place names, the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions possess a rich inventory of adjectives.

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(e.g.) *irum* 'great', *iḷa(m)* 'young', *kaṭu(m)* 'ferocious', *kuṟu(m)* 'short', *ciṟu* 'small', *cem* 'good', *nal* 'good', *neṭu(m)* 'great', *peru(m)* 'large, great' and *veḷ* 'white, pure'.

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(iii) *Nouns

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(e.g.) *ayam* 'tank', *aṟam* 'charity', *aṟuvai* 'cloth', *u(p)pu* 'salt', *uṟai* 'abode', *ū(ṟ)ṟu* 'spring', *eṇṇai* (LT *eṇṇey*) 'oil', *eḻuttu* 'letter', *ēri* 'lake', *kaya(m)* 'pond', *karaṇṭai* 'cave', *kal* 'stone', *kala(m)* 'a measure', *koḻu* 'ploughshare', *cuṉai* 'spring', *nel* 'paddy', *paḷḷi* 'hermitage', *paṉai* 'palm (tree)', *poṉ* 'gold', *yāṟ(u)* 'river' and *vēmp(u)* 'neem (tree)'.

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(iv) *Toponyms

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Toponyms commonly occurring with place names in Old Tamil are well represented in the inscriptions.

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(e.g.) *aṟai* 'rock', *il* 'place', *ūr* 'village' (frequent), *kāṭu* 'jungle', *kuṉṟu* 'hill', *talai* 'place', *tuṟai* 'waterfront', *teṉku* 'southern', *nāṭu* 'country', *pa(ḷ)ḷi* 'hamlet', *malai* 'mountain', and *veḷi* 'field'.

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(v) *Rare lexical items

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The Tamil-Brāhmī cave inscriptions are the earliest lithic records in Dravidian. It is, therefore, not surprising that there are words and usages in the inscriptions which are not found even in the earliest layer of Old Tamil. It is, in my view, a mistake to dismiss these features as 'scribal errors'. Some of the rare usages are attested in later Tamil inscriptions indicating their presence all along in the spoken language though not represented in the earlier literary records. Some of the more interesting items not attested in Old Tamil are mentioned below.¹

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¹ Listed in Etymological Index: Dravidian (Appendix IV). See Commentary on the relevant entries for discussion.

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*-aṇṇi*: honorific suffix (fem.). The dictionaries describe the word as 'local'. However, the word is undoubtedly ancient as it has been borrowed (along with the corresponding masculine honorific suffix *-aṇṇa*) in the early Prakrit inscriptions of South India.

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*antai*: a frequent honorific affix (masc.). It occurs also as an independent word in the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions and once in a later Tamil inscription, but only as a bound suffix in Literary Tamil. *antai* is arguably the most significant of the 'lost' words in Old Tamil recovered through the decipherment of the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions. This has led to two important results in linguistic and historical studies:

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(a) *antai* as an independent word appears to be the primary kinship term from which cognates like *entai*, *tantai*, etc., are derived systematically by the addition of pronominal prefixes.

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(b) *-antai* as a bound suffix is seen to be merely honorific (like *-ayyaṉ* or *-appaṉ*) and does not literally mean 'father of' as interpreted in Tamil grammatical tradition.¹

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¹ See in particular the parallel passages in inscriptions Nos. 65 & 66 and the discussion on 66.2 in the Commentary for clinching evidence in support of the proposed reinterpretation.

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*-a(p)pa-*: honorific suffix (masc.). The word is attested in later works from the time of *Tēvāram*.

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*karaṇtai*: 'cave'. The word is listed in later *nikaṇṭus* as *karaṇtai* or *kāṇtai*. The occurrence of *karaṇtai* in Tamil-Brāhmī indicates that it is the correct form and that *kāṇtai* is incorrect reading caused by the near-identical shapes of *ra* and *-ā* in the medieval Tamil script.

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*karu-iya*: 'which was carved'; adjectival past participle from **karu(v)u* 'to carve'. The verb is clearly related to the nouns *karu* 'mould' (Ta.), 'embossed work, bas-relief' (Ka.) and *karukku* (inscr.) 'bas-relief'.

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*kolvaṉ* occurs in *poṉ-kolvaṉ* 'goldsmith'. The word appears to be a variant of the literary form *kollaṉ* as indicated by analogous pairs like *kaḷḷaṉ* / *kaḷvaṉ*, *cellam* / *celvam*, etc.

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*cē-*: 'to make' (LT *cey*). The verb occurs in the forms *cē-iya*, *cēy-a*, *cētavar* and *cēvit-ōṉ*. The *cē-* forms occur fairly commonly in Tamil inscriptions.² In my view, it is not necessary to 'correct' the inscriptional forms like *cēta* as *ce(y)ta* and *cēvittāṉ* as *ce(y)vittāṉ*.

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² A. Velu Pillai 1976: pp. 5, 143 (examples from inscriptions of 6-9 centuries A.D.)

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*muḷa-ukai* and *muḷākai*: 'cave'. The context and the obvious resemblance to *muḻai* 'cave' makes the meaning of the two words clear. It is significant that when the nominal suffix *-kai* is removed, we get the forms *muḷa(v)u* / *muḷā*,³ following the known pattern of pairs like *nilavu* / *nilā*, *palavu* / *palā*, etc.

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³ These words meaning 'cave' are cognate with *muḻai* (D. 4994), but are to be distinguished from *muḻā* / *muḻavu* 'drum' (D. 4989).

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*muṉṟu*: 'front yard'. The word is clearly related to the literary form *muṉṟil* with the same meaning. The recovery of the basic form *muṉṟu* makes it possible to analyse *muṉṟil* as *muṉṟ(u)* + *il*, rather than as *il-muṉ* in the traditional, but rather *ad hoc*, derivation.

Linked texts (1)

தேவாரம் — Tiruñāṉacampantar & Tirunāvukkaracar, Tamil