Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s22.t1: 4.19.1 Appellative nouns as personal names
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s22.t1
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4.19.1 Appellative nouns as personal names
c23.s22.t1.1
The most frequent category of personal names in the inscriptions included in the Corpus is derived from appellative nouns which form a special category in Tamil to express various qualities or properties. They are derived from noun-, verb- or adjectival stems by the addition of pronominal suffixes.
c23.s22.t1.2
| (I)(l)lavōṉ | 'householder' < *illam* 'house' |
| (I)ḷava(ṉ) | 'the young one' < *iḷa-* 'young' |
| Eḷa-a- | attributive form of *eḷa(v)aṉ* 'the young one' < *eḷa-* (LT *iḷa-*) 'young' |
| O(p)paṉ | 'the beautiful one' < *oppu* 'beauty' |
| Kaṭal-aṉ | 'he of the sea' < *kaṭal* 'sea' |
| Kuv-aṉ | 'the great one' < *kuvavu* 'greatness' |
| Kuṟṟaṉ | 'the short / little one' < *kuṟu-* 'short, little' |
| Kūṟṟaṉ | 'chieftain' < *kūṟu* 'division'; cf. *kūṟṟam* |
| Koṟṟa(ṉ) | 'the victorious one' < *koṟṟam* 'victory, success' |
| Koṟṟi (fem.) | 'the victorious one' < *koṟṟam* 'victory, success' |
| Kōṭaṉ | 'he of the mountains' < *kōṭu* 'mountain, peak' |
| Cantaṉ | 'the beautiful one' < *cantam* 'beauty' |
| Ceṇṇaṉ | 'the beautiful one' < *ceṇṇam* ' beauty' |
| Taṇṭaṉ | 'the (tax) collector < *taṇṭu* 'to collect , levy'; (or) 'a member of an army' < *taṇṭu* 'army, troops' |
| Tāvaṉ | 'the strong one' < *tāvu* 'strength' |
| Tōṭaṉ | 'he who wears an ear-ornament (*tōṭu*) '; (or) 'the well-dressed one' < *toṭu* 'to wear clothes ' |
| Piṉ-aṉ | 'younger brother' < *piṉ* 'after' |
| Ma(l)laṉ | 'wrestler' < *mal* 'wrestling' |
| Veḷiyaṉ | 'the bright or pure one' <*veḷ-, veḷi* 'bright, purity' |