എല്ലാമെന്റെ മനോരഥങ്ങളൊടുവിൽ,
വല്ലാത്തൊരീ ചിന്തകൾ
വല്ലാത്തൊരീ ചിന്തകൾ
Random musings on the etymology and structure of some Malayalam words
ഉന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തു-
ന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്തുന്താളെയുന്തു്
(According to legend, the very first couplet in മഞ്ജരി inspired by which കൃഷ്ണഗാഥ was written.)
3 comments:
Hi,
Sorry to post my unrelated comment here. But I hope you could help me out on this question. My great-great grandmother's name was Chirudeyi. I suppose it's the Malayalam form of the Sanskrit word Sridevi. However, I haven't come across 'chiru' being used for 'sri' anywhere. But it sounds analogous to the Tamil term 'tiru'. Any thoughts on this? Similarly, have you come across devi > deyi forms? I've seen 'deyi' usage in old Tulu names. Since we are spread in Tulu cultural region, I wonder whether that's actually a Tulu form or Malayalam form?
Thanks.
Hi Manju,
Sorry I saw your comment only now. (Didn't realize I still had some following- I'll check my blog more often :-)
Yes. I also think "Chirudeyi" came from "Sridevi". Though I also don't have a ready example of other words where "Sri" becoming "Chiri" or "Chiru", I think the Sa to Cha transformation is very understandable - in Tamil, Sha is transliterated as Cha.
Your hypothesis of "thiru" > "chiru" is also possible. e.g. the "ththu" endings in tamil get converted to "chchu" e.g. "padaththu" > "padachchu". (Not sure if this happens for single tha).
As for devi > deyi, there is a similar ammavi > ammayi. So that is also not foreign.
Btw, Sabdatharaavali also has "chiruta" and says it is the tatbhavam of "sridevi" (I think, "Sridevi" > Chirutevi > Chirutha)
Thanks for your comments! Always welcome!
-Vinod
Thank you very much, Vinod. Checked the response only today (I followed up for few days then forgot :-)).
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