From: rachada@icaen.uiowa.edu (Ramakrishna Chada)
Subject: Re: Similarity between Telugu and Tamil(was Re: On the birth of Andhra Pradesh)
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 23:38:58 GMT
Organization: Iowa Computer Aided Engineering Network, University of Iowa

In article <BtJo2u.5Lx@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> selvakum@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (C.R.Selvakumar - Electrical Engineering) writes:
>In article <19855@plains.NoDak.edu>, ksrao@POWER.EEE.NDSU.NODAK.EDU writes:
>> In article <1992Aug24.064445.5927@news.uiowa.edu>, rachada@icaen.uiowa.edu (Ramakrishna Chada) writes:
>> >As far as the cultural common ground is concerned, I have no doubt about that.
>> >
>> >It is quite commonly said that the languages Telugu and Tamil are similar. However,
>> >this opinion seems to have been voiced by Tamilians who do not know Telugu.  
>> >If it is the structure of the language that was referred to, may be it is so.
>> >But if you are speaking of the vocabulary there is almost nothing in common.
>> 
>>      This is a place where I beg to differ. What the author says is true if you
>> consider only written Telugu. All classical Telugu literature uses a lot of
>                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> words of Samskrita origin. But most of the spoken Telugu still has a lorge
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
>> majority of words which do not have Samskrita as the origin; true those words
>  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>          a revised DED but I've not seen it.] Therefore it is quite
>          incorrect to say that the Tamil/Dravidian words are only a handful
>          as Ramakrishna Chada says. Your point that the spoken Telugu has
>          majority of words which are not from Samskritam ( but from 
>          dravidian stock) is significant because they are precisely
>          "more live" words ( some poets use these to impart certain
>          immediacy ). Also I feel that the vocabulary of different

As I said earlier, even if the roots of many "spoken" Telugu words are 
dravidian, it is difficult/impossible for a Telugu-only speaking person to
understand many pure tamil words. On the other hand it would be possible to 
convey many things using samskritam words, even if the words used are not the
most commonly used words in spoken Telugu. In other words, there are well
"understood" samskritam words that are equivalents of the words in spoken
Telugu. 
 
>          Finally I would like to point out that the structure ( syntax)
>          is more characteristic of a language than the vocabulary
>          ( English is a Germanic language although it has very large
>            borrowings from the latanic languages such as French,
>            Spanish,Italian). Based on the structure most of the 
>          Indian lnaguages might look closer to tamil than to Samskritam. 
>          

Understanding of the language comes first in feeling a closeness to the 
particular language. Similar structure might help you learn a new language with
less effort. 

>> are not in present day Tamil but were part of Tamil a few centuries ago. Just
>> record your normal conversation with your friends and try to find out how many
>> words have their origin in Sanskritam and how many do not.
>> 
>> >
>> >Ramakrishna
>> K. Sankara Rao                          e-mail ksrao@power.eee.ndsu.nodak.edu
>> 
>
>          If some knowledgeable Telugu nettors will care to list 
>          (1) the parts of human body - say like you may teach a child
>          (2) the relationaships like father, mother, sister ( elder, younger)..
>          (3) the basic words used in everyday language like milk, water,
>              river, mountain, field, and such natural things
>          (4) the numbers
>
>          then one can see the deep connections between Tamil and telugu.
>
>          anbudan (= with regards )
>
>          Selva Selvakumar

Here are some common words and my understanding in the brackets. 

hand : cheyi (dravidian origin, commonly used in speaking). 
       hastam (sanskrit origin, well understood)
head : tala (dravidian origin, commonly used in speaking)
       shirassu(samskrit origin, well understood)
water : neellu/neeru (samskrit origin) jalam(samskrit origin, well understood)
milk : paalu(dravidian origin) 
river : Nadhi (samskrit origin)
mountain : parvatham (samskrit origin)
mother : Amma(origin?, I know its the same in tamil but the samksrit "mata" is
         not far off. Do they have a common origin?)
father : Naanna, baapu, ayya etc. (dravidian origin)
         pita (samskrit origin, well understood)
numbers : okati, rendu, moodu (very similar to tamil numbers)

Other common words          

Emi : what?
Ekkada : Where?
Enta : How much?
Ela : How?

I think though these words are of dravidian origin it would be difficult to 
understand the tamil equivalents which share the common dravidian origin.
 
There is a quite a bit of simiilarity in the most basic words like relationships,
parts of the human body and numbers. This shows the dravidian origin of Telugu.
However, as I said there are samskritam equivalents which can be understood as
they are, without referring to some dictionary about how to derive one word 
from another.

shreyobhilashi (= well wisher)

Ramakrishna  
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil