The above differentiae warrant invention of a new term to designate Tamil and other Dravidian languages collectively, demoting the old term Dravidian to denote only the non-Tamil languages of the family. The word best suited for the purpose is Tamilican, derived from Tamilic, a term which has already been used by European writers in what appears to be substantially the same sense in which I propose to use its derivative. The derivation is simple and similar to that of ‘Dravidian’. As the Tamil language varied during its spread towards the north, its name also varied correspondingly, and hence, it is only proper that the varied forms should be designated by a varied name. Accordingly, of the two terms Tamilican and Dravidian, the former will be used as inclusive and the latter as exclusive of Tamil hereafter in this treatise.

     Though Modern Tamil seems to have much changed from Old or pre-Dravidian Tamil, still, it will not be far wrong to say that Tamil is the parent of the Dravidian languages. Even

     Dr. Caldwell, who held Tamil only as the eldest member of the Dravidian family of languages, has described Tamil as “probably the earliest cultivated, of the Dravidian languages-in many respects the representative language of the family”, “the oldest and most highly cultivated member of the family, and that which contains the largest proportion of the family, inheritance of forms and roots”, “the most copious and that which contains the largest portion and the richest variety of indubitably ancient forms” and that which furnishes most assistance “in the endeavour to ascertain the characteristics of the primitive Dravidian speech, from which the various existing dialects have divaricated.”

     Now it is eighty-seven years since the above passages were written. “Some of the author's conclusions as to the dates of the