Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s2.t4: 3.2.4 Influence of Old Kannada

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s2.t4

Language: English

3.2.4 Influence of Old Kannada

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The present study has brought to light the hitherto unsuspected influence of Old Kannada on the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions from a period (ca. 2nd century B.C.-4th century A.D.) anterior to the earliest known Kannada inscriptions and literature. See especially No. **49** from Sittannavasal-A (ca. 1st century B.C.), No. **55** from Tirupparankunram (ca. 1st century A.D.), No. **79** from Edakal-A (ca. 3rd century A.D.) and No. **83** from Nekanurpatti (ca. 4th century A.D.). Some of the more interesting lexical items and grammatical usages showing the influence of Old Kannada are listed below.¹

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¹ See also Commentary on the inscriptions cited in this paragraph.

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(i) *Lexical items

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*erumināṭu* is almost certainly the same as LT *erumaināṭu*, the Mysore region (*mahiṣha-maṇḍala*) of Karnataka. The word *erumi* (Ta. *erumai*, Ka., Tu. *erme*, Go. *ermi*) 'buffalo' appears to preserve an ancient dialectal form.

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*kavuṭi* is the personal name of the nun who is described in the inscription as born in a village in *erumināṭu*. cf. Ka. *gavuḍi*, *gauḍi* 'feminine of *gauḍa*, wife of a *gāvuṁḍa*, wife of a village officer'.

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*pocil* 'entrance'. The expression occurs as part of the place name *teṉku-ciṟu-pocil* which appears to be the same as *teṉ-ciṟu-vāyil*, mentioned in the later Tamil inscriptions of the region as the name of the *nāṭu* (territorial division) immediately to the east of the hill at Sittannavasal. *pocil* is not attested in Tamil and appears to be related to Ka. *hosilu* (< *\*posil*) 'entrance'. cf. also To. *pōş* 'entrance'.

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*tāyiyaru* 'mother' (honorific). This is clearly a loanword from Kannada. The word occurs in New Kannada but is not attested in Old Kannada. However, as this inscription from Nekanurpatti is assigned to ca. 4th century A.D. on palaeographic evidence, we have to regard *tāyiyaru* as an Old Kannada word which existed in the spoken language but was not attested in contemporary records.

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(ii) *Personal names and honorifics

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Personal names like *āy(c)ca* and *polāl(a)*, and the suffixed honorifics *aṇṇi*, *a(p)pa*- and *a(y)yaṉ* / *aiyaṉ* appear to be more at home in Old Kannada onomastics.

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(iii) *Grammatical usages

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*-ā*, occurring as the genitive suffix in some inscriptions is not attested in Tamil, but occurs in Old Kannada inscriptions where it is regarded as more ancient than *-a*.²

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² See section 7.27.4 for details.

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*-u*, the euphonic suffix to stems ending in liquid consonants (e.g., *ūru* 'village') occurring mostly in the later inscriptions, is not attested in Old Tamil and appears to be due to the influence of Old Kannada, even though the suffix is attested in Kannada inscriptions only from the middle period (ca. 8th century A.D.).