Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s30.t6: 7.27.6 Seventh case (locative)

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s30.t6

Language: English

7.27.6 Seventh case (locative)

c27.s30.t6.1

There are no occurrences of locative case suffixes in the Corpus. However, nouns are added as postpositions with locative signification in the following cases:

c27.s30.t6.2

*-il*: *ti(t)ti-il-a* 'of Tiṭṭi-il' 33.1.b

Even though *-il* is a locative case suffix with the meaning 'in', it is clearly a noun here as indicated by the genitive suffix *-a* following it. It is probable that *tiṭṭi-il* 'in Tiṭṭi (a place name)' coalesced into a single word *tiṭṭi-il* which then became capable of taking a case-suffix. Cf. *vēmpi(ṟ)r-ūr* (*vēmpu* + *il* + *tt* + *ūr*) 'a place name' (35.1). The place name Vēmpil is attested in later Tamil inscriptions. See Commentary (33.1 & 35.1).

c27.s30.t6.4

*-uḷ*: *uṟaiyuḷ* 'in the abode (of ascetics)' 60.2.b

c27.s30.t6.5

Cf. *uṟai* (n.) 'abode'; *uḷ* (n.) 'in, inside'. The compound coalesces into a single word *uṟaiyuḷ* 'abode of ascetics' in LT.