THE PRIMARY CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD

TAMIL, THE PRIMARY CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD

- G.DEVANEYAN, M.A. (B.O.L.)-

The Point in dispute regarding Tamil is that which relates to its place of origin. History is the bedrock and backbone of every art and science, provided it is written by competent hands free from prejudices against and predilection for the subject they deal with. The history of Tamil civilisation and culture has been commenced by the historians at the wrong end so far and so the conclusion has been preposterous. 

India proper in the South: 

The attempt to find the basic element of Hindu civilisation by a study of Sanskrit and the history of Sanskrit in Upper India is to begin the problem at its worst and most complicated point. India, south of the Vindhyas still continues to be India proper. Here the bulk of the people continue to retain the distinct pre-Aryan social institutions. Even here, the process of Aryanisation has gone too far to make it easy for the historian to distinguish the native warp from the foreign woof. But if there is anywhere any chance of such successful disentanglement it is in the South; and the farther South we go the better are the chances. 

"The scientific historian of India then ought to begin his study in the basin of the Krishna, of the Cauvery, of the Vaigai, rather than in the Gangetic Plain, as it has been the fashion so far. 

[Tamil, a Lamurian Language

All the Tamulic (Tamil and Dravidian) languages are confined to India; those who speak Tamil or a Dravidian language as mother tongue on foreign soil are only emigrants. 

The hill-tribes that speak Dravidian languages or dialects all over India, are only the descendants of those who once migrated to the hills from the plains for various reasons. 

Even within Tamilnad, Tamil improves as we go farther and farther South, and the Tirunelvelian vocabulary and pronounciation are the most copious and tolerably pure respectively. 

Of all the highly cultivated or classical languages of the world, Tamil is the simplest in phonology. 

The Tamil surds are not exact equivalents of Aryan stop-mutes. They are neither hard as the Aryan surds nor voiced, when single and separate. They become semi-voiced by position, voiced by combination, and hardened as the Aryan stops when doubled. The transliteration system adopted in the Madras University lexicon is unscientific and misguiding. Combinations like nk, ne, nt, nth, mp and mt are quite foreign to Tamil. 

The Tamil words found in large numbers in Aryan languages, are only isolated corruptions clearly pointing to their originals in tamil.

There are unmistakable references in ancient Tamil literature to the submerged southern continent, as the original home of the Tamils, and as the land where the first two of the three ancient Tamil acadamies of literary fame existed. 

The otter and the black swan frequently described in ancient Tamil poems are said to be found in Tasmania, which once formed a part of Lemuria. 

Tamil, the representative language of the Tamulic family 

Tamil is the earliest cultivated language of the Tamulic family. 
The period of its cultivation belongs to the pre-historic past. 
Tamil best represents the primitive condition of the Tamulic form of speech, by preserving its phonological simplicity and the primitive forms of its roots. 
It is the most copious of the family abounding in synonyms. 
Evidences as to the original home of the Tamulic race are found only in Tamil. 
Time was, when the whole of the Tamulic family was considered to be a single language under the name of Tamil or Dravidan. The Dravidian languages branched off from Tamil subsequently one after another. 
Morphologically, Tamil was distinguished as the standard dialect while all the Dravidian languages were dubbed deviated dialects, in prechristian times. 
Tamil alone is written in the script invented by the forbears of the Tamulic race, while all the Dravidian languages are Aryanised in script.  

Tamil is considered to have inherited many of the characteristics of its Lemurian parent, by reason of its area having once been contiguous to the submerged continent the birth place of Homo Tamulica. 
[The Tamulic substratum of the north-Indian languages 

Here, Hindi is taken as a typical north-Indian language. 

Basic Hindi words such as amma (ammai), ho (agu), Ham (am), itna (ittanai), cal (sal-sel), dekh (nokku) and der (neram) are Tamil corrupted or uncorrupted. 
Some suffixes and particles are common to Tamil and Hindi. 
Eg. a the preterite verbal suffix, and maru or mare an adverbial particle of cause or reason. 
Reduplication of words in Hindi fully corresponds with that of words in Tamil. 
The order of words in a sentence is the same in Hindi as in Tamil. 

There are many Tamil proverbs having their parallels in Hindi. 
Glossarial Affinity between Tamil and the west Aryan languages : 

Hundreds of basic west Aryan words are undoubtedly Tamil. Here, the word mel is chosen for illustration. 

T. Mel (soft or smooth)

T. mel, a (soft); v. tr. to masticate, chew (lit to make soft by masticating) K. mellu 

T. melgu v.i. To become soft or tender

T. meli v.i. To become soft or thin to become emaciated: v.tr. to soften, to nasalize, n.nasal 

T. melukku n. Tenderness, exquisiteness. 

T. mella, mella adv.gently, slowly 

Te. mellaga K.mellane

T. melli. n.woman, as of tender nature. 

E.mellow. a soft OE melu, melw 

GK. melakos, a soft E.melacoderm 

E.mild. a gentie; OE milde, OS mildi 

OHG milt, ON mildr, Goth milds 

L.Mollis, a soft; molluscus, soft bodied animal; mollusca, sub-kingdom of soft bodied animals. 

F.mollusque E.mollusc

ME, E mollify make soft. f.F.mollifier

f.L. mollificare. 

M.E.E. moil Vi. Drudge OF moillier, moisten. 

f. Rom molliare f.L. molles soft

E.melt Vi. and tr. Becom or make soft by liquifying by heat, OE meltan, mieltan, ON melta (digest) 

E. molten (melted)

E.smelt Vt. Extract metal from ore by melting 

f.MDu or MLG smelten. 

E.malt, OE mealt, OS malt 

OHG malz, ON malt cog. w-melt 

E.malm n.soft chalky rock, ot mealm 

cog.w. OS. OHG. melm dust. 

ON malmr ore, Goth malma, sand f. mel grind 

E.meal OE melu OS, OHG, melo 

ON mjol, cog. w.L. molere grind. 

E. mill n.Building fitted with machinery for grinding corn, 

OE mylen, OS mulin. OHG muli (n) 

f, LL. molinum, L. mila, mill 

f. (mole) grind. 

E.molar, n. Grinder (mammal's back teeth serving to grind) f.L. molaris (mela, millstone).

E.mull (Sc) a.Snuffbox (var of mill) box originally having a grinder. 

E.muller, n.Tool used for grinding powders etc. on slab. 

M.E.mol, mulour f.mul grind. 

E.mullock (Austral) n.Refuse from which gold has been extracted, f.dial mull, dust, rel. to OE mgl dust, MDu mul, mol f. Gme root mul grind ock. 

E.multure, n.Toll of grain or flour paid to miller : 

M.E.of OF milture, f med L.molitura f.molere. grind. 

T.mel>,a smooth, soft K.medu 

medu>meduru n. smoothness, softness, mildness, slowness. 

Meduru>medugu>merugu n.smoothness, glitter, lustre, polish. 

medugu - medukku.n.Boiled rice 

medu>mettu - metterevu. Expr. 

Signifying (a) being smooth or soft (b) being mild or gentle; (c) being slow; (d) being dull. 

mettu>mettai, n.soft bed, cushion, quilt stuffed with cotton. 

Te. metta, k.mette

E.Smooth, OE Smooth (once, usu, smethe whence dial smeeth),

Teutonic, the western most Aryan Branch closest to Tamil : 

Many of the basic Teutonic words are akin or allied to Tamil. 

E.g. ku, kuru - coo; karai - cry, crow, ul, ulai-howl, kanai - neigh. 

uraru - roar, piliru - blare;

ella, elta - hallo

tala + attu (to rock) -

talattu talattu - E.lull, lullaby, 

Sw. lulla, Du lullan 

Sappu - Sup, sip, tur - dine, 

Vikku - hiccup, tippu - spit; 

in - ean; pirandai - birth 

Kuruttu - thrust, mun (nu) - munn(an) 

an - you, andu - yond, idal - hider, 

edal - whilder, ida - lo; 

Many of the Teutonic prefixes and suffixes have affinity with their Tamil equivalents. 

Eg. Prefixes. 

al (neg) - an - un; 

al>a -a 

an - on 

il - in, il (neg) - in 

umbar - ut, uber, ufar, over 

Suffixes : nominal - au - au, eu, ou 

ar - ar, er, or 

Verbal : adu> du -ed >d, et>t 

ti - t, as in art (end person sing). 

Doubling of single consonant ending a short syllable when combined with the following vowel, is a common feature in English as in Tamil. 

Eg. dig - digged; sit - sitting, thin - thinner. 

The seat of accent is the first syllable in nominal forms and simple verbs, in the Teutonic languages, as in Tamil. 

The Aryan Dual of the noun is not found in Teutonic. 

The preterite of the weak verbs in d(love, loved) is peculiar to the Teutonic languages. 

Many verbal nouns are formed by lengthening of the root - vowel in English as in Tamil. Eg. Sit - seat, conduct - conduct. 

The four forms of each of the three tenses are common to both Tamil and English. 

The noun-infinitive can be the subject of a sentence in Tamil also as in English. 

Absolute construction of subordinate clauses is present in Tamil also. 

The English subtantive verb and many of its auxiliaries are derived from Tamil words. 

Eg.iru - are (northern form) is (southern form). 

padi> Vadi (to dwell) - Vas (Skt) - was 

pu - E be. Skt bhu. 

Vil> Vel (to intend) - will. 

Progressive corruption of the Aryan languages. 

Eg. Tamil Teutonic Latin Greek Vedic

iru are,is es es as

irumbu iron oeris .. ayas

kanu knee genu gonu janu 

kan con, kna gno gno jna

know 

poru ber, bear fer, port pher bhar

varu fry frigo phrugo bhrajj

nun du tu tu tram 

ilakkam light lux leukos ruch 

Some Tamil words met with in the west Aryan are not found in the East Aryan. Eg. attan (father), ear, ar (plough). 

Sanskrit is not the Vedic language but was evolved out of the dead vedic Aryan and the then regional languages of India called Prakrits which included Tamil and Dravidian. The term Prakrit means 'previously created' and Sanskrit means 'perfectly created', thus the very name Sanskrit suggests its posteriority to the Prakrits in origin. A study of Tolkappiam and Paninis' Astadhyayi shows that Tolkappiam is anterior to Paniniam by 2 or 3 centuries. 

Tamil, the primary classical language of the world. Evidences 

Lemurian origin of Tamil 
Phonological simplicity of Tamil 
Catholicity of Tamil words or grammatical principles 
Tamulic substratum of the Aryan family of languages. 
Morphological purity and primitiveness of Tamil. 
The presence of words 'amma' and 'appa' in almost all the great languages in some form or other. 
Absence of nominative case termination in Tamil. 
Separability and significance of all affixes in Tamil. 
Absence of arbitrary words in Tamil. 
Traceability of Tamil to its very origin. 
Logicality and naturalness of syntactic order of words in Tamil. 
Absence of dual numbers in Tamil 
absence of morphological gender in Tamil. 
Innumerable synonyms in Tami.