From: selvakum@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca (C.R.Selvakumar - Electrical Engineering)
Subject: Re: vernacular terms for relatives in the region of karaikudi
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 03:16:08 GMT

In article <1iqi4cINNi19@menudo.uh.edu> Venkatachalam Aruna <aruna@tree.egr.uh.edu> writes:
>Mother - aaththaaL
>Father - appachchi
>Father's father |         
>                |  - aiyaa
>Mother's father |  
>Mother's mother - aayaa
>Father's mother - appaththaaL
>Mother's brother - ammaan
>
>I enquired an elder and he told those were derived from pure
>tamil words.
>aayaa= aay(meaning amma)+aay
>appathaaL=appu+aathaaL
>I don't remember how the words "aiyaa","ammaan", "aathaaL" are derived
>from pure tamil words. Can anybody shed some more light onto this?

       aiyaa:
       ^^^^^
        In Tamil 'ai' refers to 'uyarvu, viyappu'; it can also indicate
        'nuNmai'. 
        The Tamil dictionaries list more than 20 meanings !!
        Let me list a few: 1) arasan, 2) azhagu, 3) kadavuL 
                           4) kadugu 5) kOzhai ( flem)
                           6) thaNNIr_muttaan_kizhangu ( a kind of kizhangu)
                           7) thalaivan, 8) parundhu ( eagle)
                           9) thanthai, 10) peru_nOy, 11) veNNay ( butter)
                           12) five,  13) doubt 14) kaNavan 15) viyappu
                           16) thumbai ( a white flower) 17) poison
        Thus one of the main semantic sense is 'great, head-person'
        ( note the meanings 1,3,7,9). Thus 'aiyaa' means 'a high one'.
         One of the well known words is 'aiyai' = thalaivi. 'aiyai'
        also can mean 'kaaLi' or female Godess. One of poet
        Perunchiththiran's work is called 'aiyai' ( about a lady
        'paattudai(th)thalaivi'). 'aiyan' means 'a guru, aasiriyan'

       ammaan :
       ^^^^^^^

        This comes from 'ammaa' = mother. ammaan means mother's brother
        This usage is popular in ThirunelvEli as well, I think. In 
        coimbatore side it is 'maaman'.  

       aaththaaL
       ^^^^^^^^^^

           About this word, I had already mentioned. 'aaththam' means 'anbu'
           'aaththan' means God, 'namba(th)thakkavan' ( = a reliable person)
            Thus 'aaththaaL' means Godess, or a high-one (female).
            In ThirunelvEli 'aaththaadi !' or ' adi aaththE!' is used
            to express astonishment just like 'ammaadi, appaadi, 
            adEyamma, adEyappaa' And I therefore think that 'aaththaaL'
            is a pure word for mother. Also we should remember that
            'aththan' means father ( In Tamil 'aththan, achchan, appan'
             all mean father; also note 'aththai' means father's sister)
             Further, I think ( only a conjecture) the word 'aaththaaL'
             might come from the verb 'aaththal' = 'to make', 'to create'
             and an old form of this verb is 'yaaththal' ( in Tamil it is
             said that the initial 'y' usually gets lost; examples are
                           'yaaRu 'river' > 'aaRu'; 
                           'yaanai 'elephant' > aanai.)
             Quite significantly 'aaththu' means ''piNiththu'  or 
             'piNikkappattu' ( = joined). 

             'aaththai' means 'thaay' (= mother) as per dictionary(Kazhagam)
             'aaththumaam' means 'uyir' (= life-current)
                   ( note 'aaththikkEdu' means 'saththu_kEdu' 'aaRRaamai'
                          i.e. lacking in energy; thus 'aaththi' gives the
                           meaning of 'vital force, prime force or energy')
              If one carefully considers all these meanings togather one
              can see that 'aaththaaL' = mother, the prime person, Godess
              becomes evident. As I mentioned before, in Salem Thiruchchi
              sides the respectable form of address to ladies of 'high
              position' ( owning large landed properties, 'high caste')
              is 'aaththaaL'; but throughout Tamil Naadu Godess is is
              addressed as 'aaththaaL', 'ammaa'. 'aaththaaL vaakku'
              means 'divine' revelation. 
       
>
>Regards,
>Venkat
>--
>venkat@jetson.uh.edu                | If you love something,set it free.
>venkat@menudo.uh.edu                | If it comes back, it is yours.
>venkat@uhupvm1.uh.edu               | If it does not, it never was.
>aruna@tree.egr.uh.edu(NeXT mails OK)| 
>aruna@simpsons.cc.uh.edu (-do-)     |
>(713)225-6426(h) & (713)743-4250(w) |
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------

           
           anbudan
           - Selva