A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages c8.32

c8.32

The neuter formative *du* seems to be contained in various shapes in the first three numbers, *ondru*, *iraṇḍu*, *mûndru*, and also, as will be seen, in *eindu*, five. *ḍu* is equivalent to *du*, and with the addition of the nasal becomes *ṇḍu*. *ondru* points to an older *or-du*; *iraṇḍu* to *ir(a)-du*; and *mûndru* to *mûrdu*, or, as the scholars whose opinions are mentioned above think, to *mû-du*.