Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s30.t4: 7.27.4 Sixth case (genitive)
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s30.t4
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7.27.4 Sixth case (genitive)
c27.s30.t4.1
Three suffixes of the genitive case occur in the Corpus: *-a*, *-ā* and *-iṉ*.
c27.s30.t4.2
**-a:** This is the most frequent genitive suffix in the Corpus occurring seven times. It is also attested in LT, but with much less relative frequency. See Commentary (19.3).
c27.s30.t4.3
*ciḻivaṉ-a* 'of Ciḻivaṉ' 19.3
c27.s30.t4.4
*cēnta-a* 'of Cēntaṉ' 28.1.b
c27.s30.t4.5
*ti(ṭ)ṭi-il-a* 'of Tiṭṭi-il' 33.1
c27.s30.t4.6
*pāṉkā(ṭ)ṭa* (*pāṉkāṭu* + *a*) 'of Pāṉkāṭu' 8.1
c27.s30.t4.7
*vira* (*vīra*)-*a* 'of Vīraṉ' 79.1.c
c27.s30.t4.8
*veṇ*(*veṇ*) *-a* 'of Veṇ' 20.3
c27.s30.t4.9
*vēḷ-a* 'of Vēḷ' 32.1.c
c27.s30.t4.10
Cf. also *nanta-a-siri-* (1.2.a-b) and *mācakōṭu* (*mācu* + *a-*) (120.1) where *-a* appears to be an attributive suffix.
c27.s30.t4.11
**-ā:** This genitive suffix occurs thrice in the Corpus
c27.s30.t4.12
*kuvirā* (*kuviraṉ* + *ā*) 'of Kuviraṉ' 23.1
c27.s30.t4.13
The PNG suffix *-aṉ* is elided and the genitive suffix *-ā* is joined to the stem.
c27.s30.t4.14
*na(l)li-y-ūr-ā* 'of Nalliyūr' 65.1
c27.s30.t4.15
*nalli-y-ūr-ā* 'of Nalliyūr' 66.1
c27.s30.t4.16
The genitive suffix *-ā* is not attested in LT. However, it occurs in Old Kannada where it is considered to be older than *-a*. See Commentary (66.1).
c27.s30.t4.17
Cf. also *mutā* (61.1) and *mūtā* (62.1) (*mutu* / *mūtu* + *ā*) 'senior, elder' where *-ā* appears to be an adjectival suffix.
c27.s30.t4.18
*-iṉ*: This occurs as the genitive suffix thrice.
c27.s30.t4.19
| *aritiṉ* (*ariti* + *iṉ*) | 'of Ariti' | 34.2 |
| *kuṇāviṉ* (*kuṇā* + *v* + *iṉ*) | 'of Kuṇā' | 89.1 |
| [*kō*\*]*viṉ* (*kō* + *v* + *iṉ*) | 'of the chief' | 88.4 |
c27.s30.t4.20
Cf. also *patiṉ-ūr* (*pat-iṉ-*) (30.1) where *-iṉ* is an attributive suffix.