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TAMILS . The word Tamil (properly Tamil) has been identified with Dravida, the See also:Sanskrit generic appellation for the See also:south See also:Indian peoples and their See also:languages; and the various stages through which the word has passed—Dramida, Dramila, Damila —have been finally discussed by See also:Bishop Caldwell in his Ccmparative See also:Grammar of the See also:Dravidian Languages (2d ed., 1875, p. 10 seq.). The See also:identification was first suggested by Dr Graul (Reise nach Ostindien, vol. iii., 1854, p. 349), and then adverted to by Dr G. U. See also:Pope (Tamil Handbook, 1859, Introduction) and Dr Gundert (Malaydlma See also:Dictionary. 1872, s.v.). Dr Pope, however, believed Tamil to be a corruption of tenmoli, See also:southern speech, in contradistinction to vadugu, the See also:northern, i.e., See also:Telugu See also:language. As in the See also:case of the Kafir, See also:Turkish, Tagala and other typical languages, the See also:term Tamulic or Tamulian has occasionally been employed as the designation of the whole class of Dravidian peoples and languages, of which it is only Me most prominent member. The See also:present See also:article deals with Tamil in its restricted sense only. The Tamils proper are smaller and of weaker build than Europeans, though graceful in shape. Their See also:physical See also:appearance is described as follows:—a pointed and frequently hooked pyramidal See also:nose, with conspicuous pares, more See also:long than See also:round; a marked sinking in of the orbital See also:line, producing a strongly defined orbital See also:ridge; See also:hair and eyes See also:black; the latter, varying from small to See also:middle-sized, have a See also:peculiar sparkle and a look of calculation; mouth large, lips thick, See also:lower See also:jaw not heavy; forehead well-formed, but receding, inclining to flattish, and seldom high; See also:beard considerable, and often strong; See also:colour of skin very dark, frequently approaching to black (See also:Manual of the See also:Administration of the See also:Madras See also:Presidency, Madras, 1885, vol. i., Introd., p. 36; see also Caldwell, See also:Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, 1875, pp. 558-79). The Tamils have many See also:good qualities—frugality, See also:patience, endurance, politeness—and they are credited with astounding memories; their worst vices are said to be lying and lasciviousness. Of all the South-Indian tribes they are the least sedentary and the most enterprising. Wherever See also:money is to be earned, there will Tamils be found, either as merchants or in the lower capacity of domestic servants and labourers. The See also:tea and See also:coffee districts of See also:Ceylon are peopled by about 950,000; Tamils serve as coolies in the See also:Mauritius and the See also:West Indies; in See also:Burma, the Straits, and See also:Siam the so-called Klings are all Tamils (Graul, Reise nach Ostindien, See also:Leipzig, 1855, vol. iv. pp. 113-212). Language.—The See also:area over which Tamil is spoken extends from a few See also:miles See also:north of the See also:city of Madras to the extreme south of the eastern See also:side of the See also:peninsula, throughout the See also:country below the Eastern See also:Ghats, from See also:Pulicat to Cape See also:Comorin, and from the Ghats to the See also:Bay of See also:Bengal, including also the southern portion of See also:Travancore on the western side of the Ghats and the northern See also:part of Ceylon. According to the See also:census of 1901, the See also:total number of Tamil-speaking See also:people in all See also:India was 16,525,500. To these should be added about 160,000 in the See also:French possessions. But as of all the Dravidian languages the Tamil shows the greatest tendency to spread, its area becomes ever larger, encroaching on that of the contiguous languages. Tamil is a See also:sister of See also:Malayalam, Telugu, See also:Kanarese, See also:Tulu; and, as it is the See also:oldest, richest, and most highly organized of the Dravidian languages, it may be looked upon as typical of the See also:family to which it belongs. The one nearest akin to it is Malayalam, which originally appears to have been simply a See also:dialect of Tamil, but differs from it now both in See also:pronunciation and in See also:idiom, in the retention of old Tamil forms obsolete in the See also:modern language, and in having discarded all See also:personal terminations in the verb, the See also:person being always indicated by the pronoun (F. W. See also:Ellis, Dissertation on the Malaydlam Language, p. 2; Gundert, Malaydjpa Dictionary, Introd.; Caldwell, Comparative Gr., Introd., p. 23; See also:Burnell, Specimens of South Indian Dialects, No. 2, p. 13). Also, the proportion of Sanskrit words in Malayalam is greater, while in Tamil it is less, than in any other Dravidian See also:tongue. This divergence between the two languages cannot be traced farther back than about the loth See also:century; for, as it appears from the See also:Cochin and Travancore See also:inscriptions, previous to that See also:period both languages were still substantially identical; whereas in the Rdmacharitam, the oldest poem in Malayalam, composed probably in the 13th century, at any See also:rate long before the arrival of the Portuguese and the introduction of the modern See also:character, we see that language already formed. The modern Tamil characters originated " in a Brahmanical See also:adaptation of the old Grantha letters corresponding to the so-called Vatteluttu," or round-See also:hand, an See also:alphabet once in See also:vogue throughout the whole of the Paudyan See also:kingdom, as well as in the South See also:Malabar and See also:Coimbatore districts, and still sparsely used for See also:drawing up conveyances and other legal See also:instruments (F. W. Ellis, Dissertation,p. 3). It is also used by the Moplahs in See also:Tellicherry. The origin of the Vatteluttu itself is still a controverted question. Dr Burnell, the greatest authority on the subject, stated his reasons for tracing that character through the See also:Pahlavi to a Semitic source (Elements of South Indian See also:Palaeography, 2nd ed., 1878, pp. 47-52, and plates xvii. and xxxii.). In the 8th century the Vatteluttu existed side by side and together with the Grantha, an See also:ancient alphabet still used throughout the Tamil country in See also:writing Sanskrit. During the four or five centuries after the See also:conquest of See also:Madura by the Cholas in the 11th it was gradually superseded in the Tamil country by the modern Tamil, while in Malabar it continued in See also:general use down to the end of the 17th century. But the earliest See also:works of Tamil literature, such as the Tolkdppiyam and the Kural, were still written in it. The modern Tamil characters, which have but little changed for the last 50o years, differ from all the other modern Dravidian alphabets both in shape and in their phonetic value. Their angular See also:form is said to be due to the widespread practice of writing with the See also:style resting on the end of the See also:left thumb-See also:nail, while the other alphabets are written with the style resting on the left side of the thumb. The Tamil alphabet is sufficiently well adapted for the expression of the twelve vowels of the language (a, d, u, ii, e, ee", o, d, ei, au), —the occasional sounds of o and ii, both See also:short and long, being covered by the signs for e, ee", i, i; but it is utterly inadequate for the proper expression of the consonants, inasmuch as the one character k has to do See also:duty also for kh, g, gh, and similarly each of the other surd consonants ch, t, t, p represents also the remaining three letters of its respective class. The See also:letter k has, besides, occasionally the See also:sound of h, and ch that of s. Each of the five consonants k, ch, t, t, p has its own nasal. In addition to the four semivowels, the Tamil possesses a cerebral and 1, and has, in See also:common with the Malayalam, retained a liquid 1, once peculiar to all the Dravidian languages, the sound of which is so difficult to See also:fix graphically, and varies so much in different districts, that it has been rendered in a dozen different ways (Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, vol. ii. pp. 20 seq.). Fr. See also: Of Tamil words which have found a permanent See also:home in English may be mentioned See also:curry, (kasi), See also:mulligatawny (milagu, See also:pepper, and tannir, cool See also:water), See also:cheroot (suruttu), See also:pariah (pateiyan). The See also:laws of euphony (avoiding of See also:hiatus, softening of initial consonants, contact of final with initial consonants) are far more complicated in Tamil than in Sanskrit. But, while they were rigidly adhered to in the old poetical language (Sen-Tamil. or " Perfect " Tamil), there is a growing tendency to neglect them in the language of the present See also:day (Kodun-Tamil). It is true the Tamil rules totally differ from the prevailing Sanskrit; still the See also:probability is in favour of a Sanskrit influence, inasmuch as they appear to follow Sanskrit See also:models. Thus, irul nikkindn becomes irunikkindn; pon pdttiram, See also:por. pdttiram; vuttil kand"en, vuttis kandtn; vdlsirumei, vdtsirumei; palan tandan, palantdndan. Nouns are divided into high-See also:caste or personal and See also:low-caste or impersonal,—the former comprising words for rational beings, the latter all the See also:rest. Only in high-caste nouns a distinction between masculine and feminine is observed in the 'singular; both have a common plural, which is indicated by See also:change of a final n (feminine 1) into r; but the neuter plural termination kal (gal) may be super-added in every case. Certain nouns change their See also:base termination before receiving the case affixes, the latter being the same both for singular and plural. They are for the acc. ei, instr. al, social o"du (odu, udan), dat. ku, loc. -il (idattil, in), alai. ilirundu (inintu), gen. udeiya (adu). There is, besides, a general oblique affix in, which is not only frequently used for the genitive, but may be inserted before any of the above affixes, to some of which the emphatic particle e" may also be superadded. In the old poetry there is a still greater variety of affixes, while there is an See also:option of dispensing with all. Adjectives, when attributive, precede the noun and are unchangeable; when predicative they follow it and receive verbal affixes. The pronouns of the 1st person are sing. ndn (yefn), inflexional base en, plural nam (See also:yam), infl. nam, including, nangal, infl. engal, excluding the person addressed; of the 2nd person ni, infl. un (nin, See also:nun), plural nir (niyir, nivir), ningal, infl. um, ungal (num). To each of those forms, inclusive also of the reflexive See also:pro-nouns tan, See also:tam, tangal, a place is assigned in the See also:scale of honorific pronouns. As in the See also:demonstrative pronouns the forms beginning with i indicate nearness, those with a distance, and (in the old poetry) those with u what is between the two, so the same forms beginning with e (or yd, as in yar, ar, who?) See also:express the interrogative. The verb consists of three elements—the See also:root (generally reducible to one syllable), the tense characteristic, and the personal affix. There are three original moods, the indicative, imperative, and See also:infinitive (the 2nd singular imperative is generally identical with the root), as well as three original tenses, the present, past, and future. The personal affixes are—sing. (a) -en; (2) -ay, honorific -{r; (3) masc. -an, fem. honor. -de, neuter -adu; plural (1) -Om (-dm, -em) ; (2) -irkal; (3) masc. fem. -drkal, neut. -See also:ana. These affixes serve for all verbs and for each of the three tenses, except that, in the future, -adu and -ana are replaced by -See also:urn (kkum). It is only in the formation of the tenses that verbs differ, intransitive verbs generally indicating the present by -See also:kit- (-See also:
made child-See also:murder didst?" having said he asked.
Much as the similarity of the structure of the Tamil and its sister languages to that of the Ugro-See also:Tartar class may have proved suggestive of the See also:assumption of a family See also:affinity between the two classes, such an affinity, if it exist, must be held to be at least very distant, inasmuch as the assumption receives but the faintest shade of support from an intercomparison of the See also:radical and least variable portion of the respective languages.
Literature.—The See also:early existence, in southern India, of peoples, localities, animals and products the names of which, as mentioned in the Old Testament and in See also:Greek and See also:Roman writers, have been identified with corresponding Dravidian terms, goes far to prove the high antiquity, if not of the Tamil language, at least of some form of Dravidian speech (Caldwell, loc. cit., Introd., pp. 8i;–to6; Madras See also:District Manual, i., Introd., pp. 134 seq.). But practically the earliest extant records of the Tamil language do not ascend higher than the middle of the 8th century of the See also:Christian era, the See also: But the refinement of the poetical language, as adapted to the See also:genius of Tamil, has been carried to greater excess than in Sanskrit; and this artificial character of the so-called Sen-Tamil is evident from a comparison with the old inscriptions, which are a reflex of the language of the people, and clearly show that Tamil has not undergone any essential change (Burnell, loc, cit., p. 142). The rules of Sen-Tamil appear to have been fixed at a very early date. The Tolkdppiyam, the oldest extant Tamil grammar, is assigned by Dr Burnell (On the Aindra School of Sanskrit Grammarians, pp. 8, 55) to the 8th century (best edition by C. Y. Tamodaram Pillei, Madras, 1885). The Vieasoliyam, another grammar, is of the 11th century. Both have been superseded by the Nannul, of the 15th century, which has exercised the skill of numerous commentators, and continues to be the leading native authority (English See also:editions in Pope's Third Tamil Grammar, and an abridgment by See also:Lazarus, 1884). The period of the prevalence of the See also:Jains in the Paudya kingdom, from the 9th or loth to the 13th century, is justly termed the Augustan See also:age of Tamil literature. To its earlier days is assigned the Naladiydr, an ethical poem on the three See also:objects of existence, which is supposed to have preceded the Kura' of Tiruvalluvan, the finest poetical See also:production in the whole range of Tamil See also:composition. Tradition, in keeping with the spirit of antagonism to Brahmanical influence, says that its author was a pariah. It consists of 1330 stanzas on virtue, See also:wealth and See also:pleasure. It has often been edited, translated and commented upon; see the introduction to the excellent edition published by the Rev. Dr Pope, in which also a comprehensive See also:account of the peculiarities of Sen-Tamil will be found. To the Avvei, or Matron, a reputed sister of Tiruvalluvan, but probably of a later date, two shorter moral poems, called Attisiicdi and Konreiveyndan, are ascribed, which are'still read in all Tamil See also:schools. Chintamani, an epic of upwards of 3000 stanzas, which celebrates the exploits of a king Jivakan, also belongs to that early Jain period, and so does the Divdkaram, the oldest dictionary of classical Tamil. The former is one of the finest poems in the language; but no more than the first and part of the third of its thirteen books have been edited and translated. Kamban's Ramayanam (about moo A.D.) is the only other Tamil epic which comes up to the Chintainani in poetical beauty. The most brilliant of the poetical productions which appeared in the period of the Saiva revival (13th and 14th centuries) are two collections of See also:hymns addressed to See also:Siva, the one called Tiruvasakam, by Manikka-Vasakan, and a later and larger one called Tivaram, by Sambandhan and two other devotees, Sundaran and Appan. Both these collections have been printed, the former in one, the latter in five volumes. They are rivalled both in religious fervour and in poetical merit by a contemporaneous collection of Vaishnava hymns, the Ndldyira-prabandliam (also printed at Madras). The third See also:section of it, called Tiruvaymoli, or " Words of the Sacred Mouth," has been published in Telugu characters, with ample commentaries, in ten quartos (Madras, 1875–76). After a period of literary torpor, which lasted nearly two centuries, King Vallabha See also:Deva, better known by his assumed name Ativirarama Pandyan (second See also:half of the 16th century), endeavoured to revive the love of poetry by compositions of his own, the most celebrated of which are the Neidadam, a somewat extravagant See also:imitation of Sri See also:Harsha's Sanskrit Naishadham, and the Verrive"rkei, a collection of sententious See also:maxims. Though he had numerous followers, who made this revival the most prolific in the whole See also:history of Tamil literature, none of the compositions of any See also:kind, mainly See also:translations and bombastic imitations of Sanskrit models, have attained to any fame. An exceptional place, however, is occupied by certain Tamil sectarians called .fittar (i.e. siddhas or sages), whose mystical poems, especially those contained in the Sivavdkyam, are said to be of singular beauty. Two poems of high merit, composed at the end of the 17th century, also deserve favourable See also:notice—the Niiinerivilakkam, an ethical See also:treatise by Kumaragurupara Desikan, and the Prabhulingalilei, a See also:translation from the Kanarese of a famous See also:text-See also:book of the Vira-Saiva See also:sect. See the See also:analysis in W. See also: As one of the best Tamil translations of English books in respect of diction and idiom may be mentioned the Balavyapdrikal, or Little Merchants," published by the See also:Vernacular Text Society, Madras. P. See also:Percival's collection of Tamil See also:Proverbs (3rd ed., 1875) should also be mentioned. The See also:copper-See also:plate grants, commonly called sdsanams, and See also: 44), from which it appears that in 1578 Tamil types were cut by See also:Father Joao de Faria, and that a See also:hundred years later a Tamil and Portuguese dictionary was published at Ambalakkadu. At present the number of Tamil books (inclusive of See also:newspapers) printed annually far exceeds that of all the other Dravidian vernaculars put together. The earliest Tamil version of the New Testament was commenced by the Dutch in Ceylon in 1688; See also:Fabricius's translation appeared at See also:Tranquebar in 1715. Since then many new translations of the whole See also:Bible have been printed, and some of them have passed through several editions. The See also:German missionary B. Ziegenbalg was the first to make the study of Tamil possible in See also:Europe by the publication of his Grammatica Damulica, which appeared at See also:Halle in 1716. Some time later the Jesuit father Beschi devoted much time and labour to the composition of grammars both of the vulgar and the poetical dialect. The former is treated in his Grammatica Latino-Tamulica, which was written in 1728, but was not printed till eleven years later (Tranquebar, 1739). It was twice reprinted, and two English translations have been published (1831, 1848). His Sen-Tamil Grammar, accessible since 1822 in an English translation by Dr See also:Babington, was printed from his own MS. (See also:Clovis humaniorum literarum sublimioris Tamulici idiomatis) at Tranquebar in 1876. This See also:work is especially valuable, as the greater portion of it consists of a learned and exhaustive treatise on Tamil See also:prosody and See also:rhetoric. (See, on his other works, Graul's Reise, vol. iv. p. 327.) There are also grammars by See also: Mondiere and J. Vinson in Dictionnaire See also:des Sciences Anthropologiques, s.v. " Dravidiens "; S. C. See also:Chitty, The Tamil See also:Plutarch, See also:Jaffna, 1859; J. Murdoch, Classified Catalogue of Tamil Printed Books, Madras, 1865; C. E. Gover, Folk-Songs of Southern India, Madras, 1871; Bishop Caldwell's Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, 2nd ed., London, 1875; Graul's Reise nach Ostindien, vols. iv. and v.; the quarterly Lists of Books registered in the Madras Presidency; [Dr. Maclean's] Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, vols. i. and ii., Madras, 1885, See also:folio; F. Muller, Grundriss der Sprachwissenschaft, See also:Vienna, 1884, t62—246; G. U. Pope, First Lessons in Tamil, 7th ed., See also:Oxford, 1904, and The Ndladiydr, Oxford, 1893; and J. Vinson, See also:Manuel de la Langue Tamoule, See also:Paris, 1903. (R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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