or
j, r, ljh,
e, onpath, pattu. Words like,
a-il (squirrel), kon(T.kaam,
threshing floor), mek or mok (T.mku, west),
polm (T.plam, bridge) and m-
(T.maram tree) not to speak of the compound words pla,
kltamak trtl,
tartalottakalmandu (Ottacamund) etc., only confirm this assertion.
Dr.Caldwell says, It is now regarded as certain that the Tudas (Todas)
were not the original inhabitants of those hills (Nilgiris), though it
is still far from certain who the original inhabitants were.1
There is no major language in the world,
perhaps, that is not enriched or influenced by Tamil in some way or other.
The Glossarial or grammatical affinities Tamil has with the Aryan, Semitic
and Scythian languages will be exhibited later on. Here I shall confine
my attention only to some Australian and African affinities. Regarding
the resemblance between the Dravidian and Australian pronouns, Dr. Caldwell
writes as follows:
It seems proper here to notice the remarkable
general resemblance which exists between the Dravidian pronouns and those
of the aboriginal tribes of southern and western Australia. In whatever
way it may be explained, the existence of a general resemblance seems
to be unquestionable; but it has not hitherto been observed that the Australian
pronouns of the first person are more nearly allied to the Tibetan than
to the Dravidian. This will appear from the following comparative view
of the pronoun of the first person singular.
Dravidian |
Ausralian |
Tibetan |
Chinese |
|
|
|
|
I, nn,
yn, n,en. |
nga, ngaii,
nagtsa,nganya. |
nga, nge, neged |
nge. |
Whilst the base of this pronoun seems to
be closely allied to the corresponding pronoun in Tibetan, and in the
Indo-Chinese family generally, the manner in which it is pluralised in
the
1.D.C.G.Introduction,p.33
|