To Be or Not To Be

The main mallu root that means to come into existence (to be) is ഉള്‍. One can see this root in a variety of words:

• ഉണ്ടു - yes, there is; from ഉള്‍ + തു (our friend ആദേശസന്ധി) (This word also happens to be the past tense of ഉണ്ണുക - to have a meal.)
  
• ഉണ്ടാകുക - to come into existence, by extension
  
• ഉള്ള - having
• ഉള്ളത് - by extension, truth
  
• ഉണ്മ - verity, truth; from ഉള്‍ + മ (ആദേശസന്ധി yet again)

Interestingly, ഉള്‍ also means inside, as we can see in:

• ഉള്ളം - mind, that which is "inside" a person
• ഉള്ളില്‍ - inside; an interesting construction since it comes from ഉള്‍ + ഇല്‍് , both noun and suffix meaning inside
• ഉള്ളി - onion! (I added it here because I think an onion is called ഉള്ളി because of the many "insides" that it has.)

Another word that means to be is ആകുക. So ഉണ്ടാകുക above actually means "to become yes". Once can also see that the meanings of existence and truth are closely linked.

What about non-existence?

ഇല്ല is the simplest word denoting non-existence. It can mean "no" or "not". As a suffix, ആ is also used to denote the negative. e.g. കുടാ - cannot join.