One of the curious derivations given in the Lexicon is the following: “ƒmavadai < ƒma+. Cake fried, but not thoroughly, in oil or ghee” (Vol. I, p. 234).

     This is a typical instance, in which a Tamil word is deliberately distorted in order that an Aryan origin may be attributed to it, by a wrong construction put up on it.

     The correct form of the compound word is ƒmai vadai, and the cake is so called, because of its convex or double convex shape which resembles the shell or the body of a tortoise.

     There are also some other articles called after the tortoise for the same reason; e.g.ƒmaittƒli, ƒmaippalakai, ƒmaipp‡ttu etc.

     A number of words, among those indicated by an asterisk to be of non-Tamil origin, upto the end of page 506 of the Lexicon, are undoubtedly Tamil.

     e.g. umbarƒr, ‘celestials’; uyarndavan, ‘ a noble or high-born person.’

     The idiomatic expression ammai p†du-tal ‘to be vesicated’. ‘to make an attack, as small pox’, is given in the wrong form ammai p†——u-tal. P†du means ‘to put’ and ‘p†——u ‘ to feed through a feeder, as a liquid’.

     The guiding principle of the compilers of the Lexicon seems to have been, to reduce Tamil to the lowest minimum possible, and show it to the world to be a mongrel language of no importance.

     Dr. Caldwell discovered the true etymology of only a small number of the Tamil words contained in Sanskrit; but even those findings were not utilised by the compilers of the Lexicon.

      All the defects explained so far have to be attributed immediately to the nature of the responsible members of the editorial staff, who had neither evinced a genuine love for Tamil, nor exhibited any ability to compile a standard dictionary of Tamil, and ultimately to the composition of the University Authorities.