Indian Antiquary Vol 40

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 201

JULY, 1911.) A COMPARATIVE GRAMMAR OF DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES
187
2. Mage (Telugu, masculine sing. prefix). Maga has an interesting development. In primitive Dravidian its meaning was a child '; and it has the same meaning now in Tamil, Malayalam and Canarese. Magavu, in these languages. ineans a child,' male or female. Later on, gender suffixes were affixed to it; and magan means NOW 'A son and magal, a daughter, in Tamil, Canaryse and Malayalam. But in Talu, the original maga (also mage) means a son. In Telugu, maga lost its meaning of child and retained only the significance of male.' Thus maga came to denote anything 'malu' instead of a male child'. It now means in Telugu' a male,' a man'; and magarádu means a husband'. Maga is colloquially Moga.
So early as in the time of Tholkappiam We find the reverse process in Tamil. Mugadú in old Tamil meant ' a woman.' Magadu words in Tholkappiam are words denoting a female,' i.e., of the feminine gender. Magadu is maga! with! d. Tuis form is after the analogy of adu already referred to.
3. Kand (Can. Masc. sing. prefix). Primitive Dravidian. Kund should have meant 'a male'; for it is in this sense that we find this word in all the languages. Tamil and Malayalam add the masculine suffix an to this word ; and thus kandan means 'a hero', 'brave man'. In Canarese, Tulu and Telugu we have the development gundu in which k g by accent change, and a final has been added. In these languages it means 'a male.
• But as a masculine prefix it is used only by Canarese ; and as a suffix it is not used in any language.
In Tamil we alko find kadu from kanda with the loss of the nasal. Kaduvan, in Tamil, is the male of a cat or a dog.
4. Pen (fem. sing. prefix). Primitive Dravidian pen pen (Tam, and Mal.).
pennu (Colloq. Tam. and New Can.). pend(u) (Tam., Mal., Ca., Te.).
pet! 2 pedd (Korvi and Kaikndi and Tam.). Primitive Dravidian pen means & woman'. It is found in this meaning in all the langunges whatever may be its phonetic development. In its original form pen, it is now found in Tamil, Malayalam and old Cinarese, in which it means ' a girl'.
In colloquial Tamil it is pronounced as pernu and also as ponn. But these two are consi. dered yular. In new Cinarese it appears as henn! and is considered classical. In Tulu it is DonnU.
The development penal is found in Tamil, Malayalam and Canarese, but with different final enunciative vowels. It is pendu in Tamil, found in the collective noun pendug! women'. It is pendi in Malayalam, and penda in Canarese. In Telugu it is found in the work pendli, marriage, and pendlámu, & wife.' In Tamil and Malayalam we have pendali, 'a wife'; which is pendan in Canarese. Pendati and Peg dati are double feminines having a feminine suffix ari orati.
In Korvi hana nieans a female', hena mukka means daughters.
The development pett is found ng pettai in Tamil, and petta in Telugu and Malayalam, and pat in Korvi and phal in Kaikadi. In all these languages it means a fernale '; e. g.:
Tam.: pe!!ai (k)kôli = hen. Telugu : peta kodi = hen. Kaikadi : phat göra = she-horse, i. e., mare.
5. AI (fem. sing. sufix of 8. C. Drav.) Primitive Dravidian di a l (Tam., Ma., Ca, and Tu.).
dlx (Te.). 1 dli (Kui, and Kurukh).
adu dda (Te.). Primitive Dravidian a means 'woman.' Ali means a woman in Kurukh and Kui; and álu in Telugu means also a woman.' Telugu uses a lu or a la to denote the feminine of nouns, i. e.. as a feminine prefix,