DISCOVERY OF DRAVIDIAN AS THE COMMON SOURCE OF INDO-EUROPEAN |
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Further, the fact that the association of the word amma with the word mother, and the association of a mother with breast and milk for her offspring is neither accidental nor coincidental in Dravidian becomes clear when we realize that in Dravidian, ammi = mother’s breast (181-Ka); ammam = woman’s breast, food of babies (Ta); ammanni = nipple (Ma); ammanni = nipple, teat, breast (Ka); amani = nipple (Tu). In addition to these Dravidian words note also that in Dravidian mama denotes: milk, (4703-Pa); mammu = food (in children’s language) (Ka); mamma = breast (Tu). Dravidian, the common source of Indo-European, illustrates the linguistic basis why Indo-European words such as mama, mamma, mammary, mammilla, mammal, Mammalia are associated with this root amma and that the evidence for it does not rest on the conjecture that the root represents baby talk or the sound of suckling. It is, therefore, least surprising that this root which is entwined with all these Dravidian seed-words gave rise to Greek mater = mother. Here, note also the Dravidian seed-words muto = mother (4954-Go); mutuvor = mother (Ta). 5. an = on (JS-8). Note that the derived Greek word of this IE root is ana which denotes: up (JS-8 also correctly points out that this Greek ana denoting: up is used as a prefix extensively). Here, note the Dravidian seed-words: an = upper part (110-Ta); anna = upwards, above (Ma). It is not insignificant that JS points out God in this context by quoting the term anathema which he defines as things devoted, at first to God, and later to the devil. Here, note that in the same group 110, there are the Dravidian words annal = god (110-Ta); annal = high, God, especially Arhat (Ma). JS also states that this root connoting the sense of joining or collection relating to a person or a place is also used as a suffix in terms such as Lincolniana, Americana, which denote a place or a people united by a common factor. Here, note that in Dravidian ana = to be joined, united [[as a pople]] (120-Ta); ani = to join with [[as people]] (Ta); anayam = vicinity, neighborhood [[as people belonging to the same place or vicinity]] (Ma); and- = to be in the same place with (Ko); anasu = a throng, that holds firmly together [[as a people of a nation firmly hold together]] (Ka); anagu = to mix or mingle freely [[as a people belonging to a nation do]] (Te); antalu = crowd, crowds (Te). Note that the matter written within square brackets is not stated in the dictionaries we are consulting; it is stated in order to further enlighten the context of the meaning or meanings denoted by the concerned words. The matter writen within parentheses, however, is stated within parenthese in the dictionaries themselves. Another important fact is that this IE suffix had been already formed and used in Dravidian itself. For instance, in Dravidian, a Kannada man belonging to the Kannada land is referred to as knnatan, kannatikan, kannatiyan (1284-Ta); a Tamil man belonging to the Tamil land is reffered to as tamilan (3080-Ta), and so on. Note further that the element an, which occurs in such words as Russian, German, European, etc., is not the only suffix which has already been used in Dravidian as such. For instance, the English element er from Latin arius = one who (JS-66) which is in such English words as butler, carpenter (JS-66 gives such other examples as teacher, preacher, gambler, etc.,) has also been used in such Dravidian words as medara = man who plaits baskets, mats, etc., of bamboo splits, man of the basket-maker caste (5092-Ka). In Dravidian Telugu also, medara not only denotes: a basket maker, but the basket making caste (5092-Te). In Dharwad Kannada dialect areas the word nekara denotes not only the weaver of clothes but the weaving caste of people. As noted in the previous chapter in relation to the root-word pele (which occurs in such Indian place-names as Trichinapalli, and in American place-names such as Minneapolis), the experiment of using words as suffixes had already been tried, tested, and successfully adopted in the mother speech of Indo-European: Dravidian. Thus it is clear that even as the Dravidian words, the "bricks" were shaped and formed in time to accommodate the grammar, intonation, etc., of Indo-European, Dravidian lent a helping hand in such processes. |
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