Indo-Aryan loanwords in Tamil

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Tamil language of Dravidian family has absorbed many loanwords from Indo-Aryan family, predominantly from Prakrit, Pali and Sanskrit,[1] ever since the early 1st millennium CE, when the Sangam period Chola kingdoms became influenced by spread of Jainism, Buddhism and early Hinduism. Many of these loans are obscured by adaptions to Tamil phonology.[2]

There are many words that are

IAST system. All words have been referenced with the Madras University Tamil Lexicon, which is used as the most authoritative and standard lexicon by mainstream scholars.[3][4]
In the examples below, the second word is from Tamil, and its original Indo-Aryan source is placed to the left.

Change of final

Loss of initial s

  • samayaṃ - amaiyam[6]
  • sabhā - avai[5]

Loss of initial
complex consonant (retaining initial vowel
)

Loss of initial complex consonant (introduction of vowel)

Loss of voicing

  • agati - akati[5]

Loss of voiced aspiration

  • adhikāra - atikāra[5]
  • adhika - atika

Tatsama borrowing

  • aṇu - aṇu[5]
  • nīti - nīti[5]

Change of final sibilant to semivowel

  • Ākāśa - Ākāya

Change of medial sibilants to
stops

  • aśuddha - acutta[5]

Split of complex
syllables

  • agni - akkini[5] (gni to kini, also note loss of voicing)

Others

  • ahaṃkāram - akankāram (anger, arrogance, self-love)[7][5]
  • agastya - akattiya[5]
  • ahambhāva - akampāvam[5]
  • Āṣāḍha - Āḍi[5]
  • Ārambha - Ārampam[5]
  • kāvya - kāppiyam[5]
  • kārttika - kārttikai[5]
  • śvāsa - cuvācam[5]
  • śani - cani[5]
  • chitra - cittirai[5]
  • budha - putan[5]
  • phalguna - pankuni[5]
  • manas - manatu[5]
  • mārgaśīrSa - mārkazhi (month name: mid-December to mid-January)[8][5]
  • māgha - māci[5]
  • vaiśākha - vaikāci[5]

References

Notes

  1. .
  2. ^ Michael Witzel [1] Archived 2008-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Harold Schiffman in his official website says of the Madras University Tamil Lexicon "most comprehensive and authoritative."
  4. ^ Another source asserting the status of the Madras University Lexicon is this page where it is called "still the most comprehensive and authoritative Tamil dictionary."
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Madras University Tamil Lexicon
  6. S2CID 162621555
    at p. 133
  7. ^ wiktionary:அகங்காரம்#Tamil
  8. ^ "Learn Tamil Online-Best Tamil class online".

Bibliography

External links