Dravidian English

The Dravidian family of languages, used mainly in the Southern as well as a few eastern & central parts of India and areas in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal, include 26 languages, prominent amongst which are Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu. Most of the other languages are non-literary. Over 200 million people use Dravidian languages, which makes it the fifth largest language family.

Ironically, although Dravidians had inhabited the plains of India much before the Aryans (who used the Indo-European dialects, including Sanskrit), the term ‘Dravidian’ is derived from the Sanskrit ‘dravida’, which means ‘south’. This was because the Aryans occupied the northern parts of the Indian sub-continent, while the Dravidians occupied the South.

Many English words owe their origin to the Dravidian languages; the word contribution of two of the languages is discussed below.

We start with Tamil, which is one of the official languages of India, Sri Lanka & Singapore. It is also the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Perhaps the most popular word is also very mouth watering and amongst England’s most favourite foods, Curry. It is a spicy dish of vegetables or meats seasoned with curry powder (a mixture of various spices) and normally eaten with rice. The word ‘curry’ is derived from the Tamil ‘kari’.

Another mouth watering food is the mango. A tropical fruit with greenish skin when unripe and yellowish-red skin when ripe, the seed inside is hard, while the pulp is very juicy, fleshy and aromatic. The roots of the word mango are derived from the Portuguese manga, which is based on the Malay manga, which in turn is derived from the Tamil ‘manaky’, a term for the mango tree fruit.

While on foods, we also have Mulligatawny, a soup usually prepared from chicken and seasoned with curry, mainly pepper. Its etymology is the Tamil ‘milakutanni’, (milaku - pepper & tanni – water).

We move onto Catamaran, which is a sailboat like vessel with twin hulls and a deck that connects them. It is derived from the Tamil ‘kattumaram’ (kattu - to tie & maram – tree or wood). Kattumaram is actually a raft of logs tied together and propelled by paddles or sails.

Also of Tamil origin is Cheroot or sheroot, a cigar which is cut square at both ends. The word was first absorbed into the French language and from there passed on into the English language. Its origin is the Tamil ‘curuttu’ or ‘shuruttu’ and literally means a roll of tobacco.

Another word is Pariah, meaning an outcast. Members of the lower caste in southern India, mainly laborers and village servants, were known as ‘paraiyans’, which is derived from the Tamil ‘paraiyar’ (literally a drummer).

The next word is Corundum, which is the second hardest natural mineral known to humans. The red variety of Corundum is known as ‘Ruby’, while all the others, including blue, orange-pink, golden, white, and even colorless corundum are ‘Sapphires’.
The word is derived from the Tamil word for rubies, ‘kuruntam’.

The following word has slightly ambiguous origins; Godown is derived either from Tamil or Telugu (the official language of Andhra Pradesh, a southern state of India), but the credit for the word goes to Malay. The word is derived from the Malay word ‘gadong’, which meant a warehouse in the East Indies, but it is assumed that the Malays themselves took the word from the Telugu ‘gidangi’ or the Tamil ‘kidangu’, meaning a place where goods lie (kidšu - to lie). Of course the earlier English usage spelled it as ‘godon’, which changed to ‘gadonge’ and then got corrupted to the modern ‘godown’ possibly because godowns were mostly underground and thus one had to ‘go down’.

We now move onto another Dravidian language, Malayalam, which is the principal language of the South Indian state of Kerala and the Lakshadweep Islands (west coast of India). The word Malayalam is derived from the term ‘mountainous country’ (mala - mountain & alam – place)

We have here three words, all of them related to plants, teak, coir and copra.

Teak is a hard and robust timber used in making furniture and also for shipbuilding because of its water-resistant property. Teak is derived from the Portuguese teca, which in turn is derived from the Malayalam ‘tekka’.

Coir is a rough and rigid fiber made from the outer husk of a coconut. It is mainly used for making ropes and mats, but is also used as organic compost. The word has its roots in the Malayalam ‘kayaru’, meaning cord.

Copra is the dried coconut meat which is used to extract coconut oil. The word Copra has its origin in the Malayalam ‘koppara’.