Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c28.s6.t1.96

c28.s6.t1.96

**a. *antai*** (n.) An honorific added as a term of respect to the name of a senior or elder person in the family or a person of rank or eminence in the village. In the Ta. Br. inscriptions, *antai* occurs either as a prefix as in this case or as a suffix; in the latter case, it is added either in free form as in ***kuvira-antai*** (**31.1**) or in bound form as in ***korṟantai*** (**67.1**). The honorific has survived in later times only as a bound suffix. See **66.2** for conclusive evidence on the meaning of *anṟai*. See section 3.2.2 (v) on the linguistic significance of the term.