‘elevation’, ‘self conceit’, etc., was chosen as the base of the First Personal Pronoun.

     on, the original form of o‹Šu, one, derived from ol, to unite, formed the singular suffix, and um, a crude obsolete verb meaning ‘together’, ‘to assemble’, formed the plural suffix, of all the three personal pronouns.

     um-am-ambu-ambal (bud)-ambalam, assembly.
     Cf.  um-kum-kumbu, v.i. to crowd; n. crowd.
     kumbu-k‡mbu, v.i. to close, as a flower; n. bud.
     kum-kumi-kuvi, v.i. 1. To crowd. 2. To close, as a flower.

     As the size of a crowd shrinks or contracts more and more as it gets closer and closer, the idea of contraction is derived from that of crowding.

     „ + on-„n; „+um=„m.

     yƒm excludes and nƒm includes the party addressed. This is the result of Restriction.

     The nominatives „n and „m have become extinct, except as pronominal terminations of finite verbs, the former being common to both dialects, and the latter restricted to poetic usage.

     yƒn and yƒm have become obsolete and highly literary; and the oblique base nan extinct in Tamil, though preserved in Telugu and Kanarese.

Second Person: