From: selvakum@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (C.R.Selvakumar - Electrical Engineering)
Subject: Re: Burrows on Dravidian Origins (setting the cat among the pigeons)
Keywords: Aryan, Dravidian arrival.
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 16:11:31 GMT

In article <17014@umd5.umd.edu>, gopals@astro.umd.edu (N. Gopalswamy) writes:
> This is a comment on Dr. Rao's postings on the origin of dravidians.
> 
> I have been reading a number of books on this subject and am getting the
> picture which I will describe shortly. It is worth noting the cognation of
> the word 'ivuli' not only with Brahui in Pakistan/Afganistan, but also
> with the Elamite language that survived until 10 century AD. This word
> means wild (undomesticated horse). I read this in a book published 
> by the American Philosophical Society: Proto-Elamo-Dravidian:Its Evidence
> and Implications by david W. McAlpin, Philadelphia, 1981.
> 
> In this book, McAlpin has proved from various different angles that 
> Elamite and Dravidian are off-springs of a common ancester. In the whole
> chain of languages this is one step further from Pakistan/Afganistan to
> Elam, a region in Southern Iran called Susiana in ancient times. 
> 
> Luckily, there is extensive record of the Elamite Language from 3000 BC
> to about 1000 AD in the form of writing on clay-tablets. This writing is known as 
> 'Cueniform'. I talked to some Iranian students and they are aware of 
> the Elamite tribes who apparently have lost their language. Unlike Indus
> Script, Elamite is readable and is extensively researched. So it became
> easy for McAlpin to compare Dravidian and Elamite to construct the 
> Proto-Elamo-Dravidian grammar. 
> 
> He follows evolution of words among various subgroups of the Dravidian
> family. (North Dravidian: Brahui, Central Dravidian: Telugu, Gond andabout a 
> dozen tribal languages in MP, East Dravidian: Krux and malto in Bihar/Bengal
> and South Dravidian: Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Tulu etc). 
> 
> There are enormous number of words in Animal Husbandry that are common in
> Dravidian and Elamite. Examples: Aay (cattle: note Tamil Aayar)
> yaadu (goat/sheep), kanRu, Paarppu (young cattle), peN, Mootu (female cattle)
> YeRu (male), paal (milk) etc. However, there are not many in Agriculture. 
> This is taken to imply that the period the Dravidians separated from the
> Elamites in Southern Iran can be effectively compared with the stages of
> developments of civilization in western Asia which is well documented.
> He comes up with a period of not before 5500 BC. 
> 
> Lack of agricultural terminology is probably due to change of crops
> as they moved to India and south. names of grains are common only within 
> Dravidian Sub-groups indicating that the while they kept the agricultural
> techniques, they could not grow the same crops in new places. Recent
> Indus-Valley researchers in Pune have discovered that the earlier Indus
> valley sites show extensive use of Wheat and Barley while later sites in
> Gurjarat and Maharaashtra show the extensive use of millets. 
> 
> The only word that is common between Dravidian and Elamite in the agricultural
> terminology is 'um'. This means 'processing grain'. This is found 
> in Dravidian as umi (husk). But we do not know whether the grain was
> gathered or cultivated from this cognation. 
> 
> Another word of importance is 'upat' meaning brick. This is related
> to the Dravidian word 'uppara' for masons. This also points to the 
> stage of civilization when the Dravidians separated from Elamites.
> 
> Finally, a lower limit to the separation is set by the fact that dravidians
> did not have writing until 300 BC. However, Elamites are known to have used
> writing since 3000 BC. It is interesting to note that the word for 'write'
> in Elamite is 'tallu' (to push). This is appropriate for writing on clay
> tablets because one has to push the clay with a sharp stick. In Dravidian
> the word for write is ezhutu or varai which stems from drawing or painting.
> Thus one may conclude that ther Dravidians separated in the pre-literate
> period (ie, before the advent of writing in Elam). Thus McAlpin estimates a 
> time period of 4000 BC for the separation of Elamite and Dravidian Languages.
> 
> This nicely fits in the Indus Valley civilization which existed in the period
> 2500-1500 BC. Some people think that the Elamite record might ultimately
> help to decipher Indus script. I must emphasize that this is only a 
> circumstantial evidence and does not prove that Indus valley people 
> were Dravidian. 
> 
> For those who need more details, I recommend reading McAlpin's book.
> 
> Fianal comment: Migration is a never ending process and is going on still.
> If two communities come together there will be tendencies to fight as well 
> as co-exist. When Dravidians arrived, there wer some people before - the
> kohls (proto-australoids) with whom they prbably mingled. Similarly when
> Aryans arrived later in 1500 BC similar thing would have happened. Knowing
> historical facts  should not be mixed with one's emotion which result
> in hindrance to seeking truth. 
> 
> N. Gopalswamy
> 
> 
> 

Thank you for your article. I was about to write on the same work of
McAlpin. This work seems to be highly regarded and of a pioneering type
relating Elamite and Dravidian. Since its publication in 1981, many
linguists have considered this work a valuable one. 

I should point out that The Middle Elamite and Proto Elamite have the
following words same as Tamil 

atta = father  [ In Thiruvaasagam it is oftern said 'Atta pORRi' =Glory 
                               Father]
amma = mother

ah = that ( not far)
ih = this 
akal = spread
akar~= dig  [ r~ indicates a sound similar to Tamil zh. Tamil
             ' akazh = dig ' is a well known work]

cel = to go

and the list goes on. 

about the word for horse 'ivuli'. It is true that Dr. McAlpin says that
it refers to wild horse in Tamil, but I am not sure about this because
in Tamil 'ivuLi' is used in the sense a horse which goes aggressively forward
in a warfield. In Tamil 'ivuLi' is one of 10 different words for horses.
I was under the impression that ivuLi came from the root 'ivar-' to go
agressively forward ( see tamil entry ivarthal; also see ivarvu = climbe
forward). If the original meaning of ivuLi is wild horse, then possibly
it could have come from tamil root 'ivavu' = lowly, uncultivated, defective.

While this study will indicate the possible relationship between Dravidian
and Elamite, I am not sure whether it can support migration of Dravidian
especially INTO the indian sub-continent. 

Regards
Selva Selvakumar



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