Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s38: 7.35 Adjectives
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s38
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7.35 Adjectives
c27.s38.1
Adjectives are modifiers of nouns expressing qualities or properties. The adjective always precedes the noun it qualifies. Unlike nouns, the adjective has no person, number, gender or case; it does not vary its form to accord with the person, number, gender or case of the noun it qualifies. Unlike verbs, it has no tense. Appellative nouns are formed from adjectival stems with the addition of pronominal (PNG) suffixes. However, adjectives themselves do not occur as independent words (with a couple of exceptions noticed below). The adjectival stems in the Corpus occur invariably combined with personal names or place names:
c27.s38.2
| 1. | *iru(m)-* | 'great' | 61.7.c, 62.7.c |
| 2. | *iḷa(m)-* | 'young, junior' | 2.7.a, 17.1.a, 61.11.a, 61.12.a, 62.11.c, 62.12.a, 76.1.a, 89.2.a |
| | *eḷa-* | 'young, junior' | 43.2.a, 56.5.a |
| 3. | *kaṭu(m)-* | 'ferocious' | 61.9.b, 61.11.b, 62.9.b, 62.11.a, 62.11.d |
| | *kaḷu-* (LT *kaṭu-*) | 'ferocious' | 44.1.a |
| 4. | *kīḻ-(kīl-)* | 'eastern' | 113.1.a. |
| 5. | *kuru(m)-* | 'short, young, little' | 65.3.a |
| 6. | *ciṟu-* | 'small, little, young, junior' | 49.5.b, 73.9.a, 106.1.a |
| | *ce(ṟ)ṟ-* (LT *ciṟṟ-*) (before a vowel) | 'small, little, young, junior' | 12.4.a |
| 7. | *cem-* | 'good, straight, beautiful' | 22.1.a, 61.4.a, 62.4.a, 63.2.a, 109.1.a, 110.1.a |
| | *cam-* (LT *cem-*) | 'good, straight, beautiful' | 101.1.a, 105.1.a |
| 8. | *nal-* | 'good, auspicious' | 17.3.a |
| 9. | *neṭu(m)-* | 'tall, great, senior' | 1.5.a, 42.2.a, 55.5.c, 59.2.b |
| | *neṭi(m)-* (LT *neṭum-*) | 'tall, great, senior' | 2.5.a |
| 10. | *pal-* | 'many' | 118.1.a |
| 11. | *piṉ-* (occurs in the appellative noun *piṉ-aṉ* (*piṉṉaṉ*) 'a personal name' lit., 'younger brother'. | 'subsequent, afterwards' | 63.4.a |
c27.s38.3
12. *peru(m)-* 'great, senior, large' 61.9.a, 62.9.a, 72.3.a 83.1.a, 88.6.a,117.3.a *pe(m)-* (contraction of *perum-*) 'great, senior, large' 102.1.a *pēr-* (before a vowel) 'great, senior, large' 13.2.a, 35.2.a, 56.1.b
c27.s38.4
†13. *mutā* (*mutu* + *ā*) 'senior, elder' 61.1 *mūtā* (*mūtu* + *ā*) 'senior, elder' 62.1 † These are the only exceptional cases of adjectives occurring as independent words in the Corpus. They are formed from the stems *mutu*/*mūtu* with the addition of the adjectival suffix *-ā*; cf. the genitive suffix *-ā* (23.1, 65.1, 66.1). Neither of these suffixes is attested in LT. See Commentary (61.1, 62.1).
c27.s38.5
14. *mē(l)-* 'western' 112.2.a
15. *ve(m)-* 'hot' 119.1.a
16. *veḷ-*, *veṇ-* 'white, bright, pure' 3.3.a, 6.1.a, 14.1.a, 46.1.a