Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Turning words

The three basic rotations are roll, yaw and pitch (for details refer to this diagram)

What would the corresponding mallu words be? I think they will be:

തിരി = yaw (cf. ഇടംവലംതിരിയുക), turn
മറി = pitch (cf. കീഴ്മേല്മറിയുക ), overturn
ചെരി = roll (from the general meaning of the verb), tilt

തിരി also means
  • wick - and of course, a wick is created by "turning" (or rolling) a piece of cotton
  • a lamp, by extension. as in മെഴുകുതിരി
  • to divide - as in തരംതിരിക്കുക
  • to understand, to discriminate (as in a rational process) - from the previous meaning, as in വകതിരിവു്
ചെരി also means
  • to "elephant-die" i.e. to die, used only in the case of elephant. Figurative, of course.

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