| Proto-South Dravidian | |
|---|---|
| Proto-South Dravidian I | |
| Reconstruction of | South Dravidian languages |
| Region | Primarily South India, possibly also areas of North India during Vedic period. |
| Era | ca. 2nd-1st m. BCE [1] |
Reconstructed ancestor | |
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| Dravidian culture and history |
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Proto-South Dravidian is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the southern Dravidian languages native to southern India. [2] [3] Its descendants include Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Tulu, Badaga, Kodava, Irula, Kota and Toda.
South Dravidian is sometimes referred to as South Dravidian I by linguists. [4] Going by attested changes in written documents, the Proto-South Dravidian I (PSD1) language has been hypothesised to have been present in the second half of the first millennium BC. [4] Some linguists infer it to have split from Proto-South Dravidian II (Also know as South Central Dravidian or Telugu-Kui) at the beginning of the first millennium BC. [4] These datings however, have been noted to be vague approximations. [4]
Old Indo-Aryan loans in Proto-South Dravidian
The following Old Indo-Aryan loan words into Proto-South Dravidian have been proposed by linguist Franklin Southworth. The word *accu (axle) was hypothesised to have been loaned into Proto-Dravidian from Rig Vedic akṣa. [5]
| Proto-South Dravidian reconstruction | Meaning | Old Indo-Aryan |
|---|---|---|
| *arank | stage, platform, veranda | ranga |
| *arac-an | king | rājan |
| *argaḷ | bar, cross bar | argala |
| *āṇi | nail | āṇi |
| *kañc | bell metal | kamśa |
| *kaṭṭ | stick | kāṣṭha |
| *kump-at | gourd, pumpkin | kumbha-phala, kumbhanda |
| *paṇ-i | comb | phaṇaga, ( Marathi phaṇi) |
| *paṇṭi | cart, wagon | bhāṇḍa |
| *pōy | member of a spec. tribe/caste, headman | bhōgin |
| *may-aṇ | wax | madana, mayana, ( Marathi men) |
Other early borrowings in the Vedic period
The following words are attested in both Proto-South Dravidian and Rig Vedic Sanskrit (circa 1400 BC), with uncertainty of which direction the borrowing was from. The Rig Vedic ulukhala (mortar) is proposed to be cognate with PSD *ul-akk ‘pestle’, while Rig Vedic nīla (blue) is proposed to be cognate with PSD *aṇile (ink nut tree). [5]
Other words in the Shatapatha Brahmana (circa 700 BC) include arka (the plant Calatropis gigantea) cognate with PSD *erukku and muñja (‘the grass Saccharum Sara) cognate with PSD *muñci. [5]
References
- ^ Southworth, Franklin (2004), Linguistic archaeology of South Asia, Routledge, p. 195, ISBN 9780415655446.
- ^ Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-43533-8.
- ^ Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich (2003), A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, Otto Harrassowitz, p. 299, ISBN 978-3-447-04455-4.
- ^ a b c d Southworth, Franklin (2004), Linguistic archaeology of South Asia, Routledge, p. 50-51, ISBN 9780415655446.
- ^ a b c Southworth, Franklin (2004), Linguistic archaeology of South Asia, Routledge, p. 79-82, ISBN 9780415655446
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