A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages c8.5

c8.5

It is the adjectival form of the numerals which is used in forming appellative nouns of number, such as *iruvar* (*iru-(v)-ar*), Tam. two persons. The basis of this word is not *iraṇḍu*, the noun of number two, but the numeral adjective *iru*, with the addition of *ar*, the usual suffix of the epicene or masculine-feminine plural. In the colloquial dialects, adjectival or appellative nouns of number are formed in this manner from the first three numeral adjectives alone—e.g., *oruvan*, Tam. one person (masc.), *unus*; *orutti*, one person (fem.), *una*; *iruvar*, two persons; *mûvar*, three persons (both epicene); but in the higher or poetical dialects, almost all the numeral adjectives are converted in this manner into appellative nouns. From these circumstances it is evident that the Dravidian numeral adjectives are to be regarded as the only essential portion of the roots of the numeral substantives, and probably as the very roots themselves.