Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil
Encyclopedia
Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil
came about mostly due contact between colonial
powers and the native population. Linguists study a language's lexicon for a number of reasons. Languages such as Tamil with centuries of literature
and multi-cultural contact offer the chance to compare the various processes of lexical change. The words of foreign origin or loanword
s illustrate those processes: calque
s, loanword
s, the distinction between function word
s and content words.
Note: For information on the transcription used, see National Library at Calcutta romanization and Tamil script
.
are distinct from the Tamil
dialects used in Tamil Nadu
, Kerala
and other states of India. They are used in Sri Lanka and in the Tamil diaspora
. Linguistic borrowings from European colonizers such as the Portuguese
, English
and the Dutch
have also contributed to a unique vocabulary that is distinct from the colloquial usage of Tamil in the Indian mainland. Furthermore, a form of Tamil spoken exclusively by Sri Lankan Moors
has been strongly influenced by Arabic. Words that are peculiar to Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are marked with an asterisk (*).
via the Portuguese traders. Most of these words are also shared with Sinhalese language users.
induced civil conflict has introduced number of English and international words to the native population.
Sinhala are quite sparse in Sri Lankan Tamil (as opposed to the large number of Tamil loan words in Sinhala), which is most likely due to the relative isolation of the exclusively Tamil-speaking settlements in the North and East of the island.
. Malay words for edible fruits were introduced during the colonial period by traders . The same terminology is shared with Sinhalese.
.
Sri Lankan Tamil dialects
The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil dialects form a group of Tamil dialects used in the modern country of Sri Lanka by Sri Lankan Tamil people that is distinct from the dialects of modern Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of India...
came about mostly due contact between colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
powers and the native population. Linguists study a language's lexicon for a number of reasons. Languages such as Tamil with centuries of literature
Tamil literature
Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...
and multi-cultural contact offer the chance to compare the various processes of lexical change. The words of foreign origin or loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s illustrate those processes: calque
Calque
In linguistics, a calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation.-Calque:...
s, loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s, the distinction between function word
Function word
Function words are words that have little lexical meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker...
s and content words.
Note: For information on the transcription used, see National Library at Calcutta romanization and Tamil script
Tamil script
The Tamil script is a script that is used to write the Tamil language as well as other minority languages such as Badaga, Irulas, and Paniya...
.
European contribution
Sri Lankan Tamil dialectsSri Lankan Tamil dialects
The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil dialects form a group of Tamil dialects used in the modern country of Sri Lanka by Sri Lankan Tamil people that is distinct from the dialects of modern Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of India...
are distinct from the Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
dialects used in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
and other states of India. They are used in Sri Lanka and in the Tamil diaspora
Tamil diaspora
The Tamil diaspora is a demographic group of Tamil people of Indian or Sri Lankan origin who have settled in other parts of the world. Significant Tamil diaspora populations can be found in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Middle East, Réunion, South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Fiji, Guyana,...
. Linguistic borrowings from European colonizers such as the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
have also contributed to a unique vocabulary that is distinct from the colloquial usage of Tamil in the Indian mainland. Furthermore, a form of Tamil spoken exclusively by Sri Lankan Moors
Sri Lankan Moors
The Sri Lankan Moors are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 8% of the country's total population . They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the 8th and 15th centuries...
has been strongly influenced by Arabic. Words that are peculiar to Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are marked with an asterisk (*).
Portuguese
Most Portuguese loan words are for items the native population lacked when the encounter happened circa 1505. Some are administrative terms, others are personal usage terms as well as items directly introduced from South AmericaSouth America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
via the Portuguese traders. Most of these words are also shared with Sinhalese language users.
| Word | Meaning | Original form |
|---|---|---|
| alumāri | cupboard | armário |
| annāsi | pineapple Pineapple Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae... |
ananás |
| alavangu | crow bar, spud bar Spud bar thumb|right|250px|A spud bar, scale in inches/feetA spud bar, or in British English usually crowbar or just bar, is a long straight metal bar used lengthwise as a hand tool to deliver blows to a target, causing the target to move, break up or deform. It can also be used as a lever to move objects... |
alavanca |
| alupunethi | safety pin | alfinete |
| alugosu | executioner | algoz |
| baila | dance | baile or bailar |
| chuppu | suck | chupar or chupo |
| rothai | wheel | roda |
| savei | key | chave |
| jaṉṉal | window | janela |
| kathirai | chair | cadeira |
| kaju | cashew | caju |
| kalusan* | trousers | calção |
| kamicai* | shirt | camisa |
| kaṭatāsi* | paper | carta |
| koiappalam | guava | goiaba |
| kōppai | drinking glass | copo |
| kusini* | kitchen | cozinha |
| mēcai | table | mesa |
| pān* | bread | pão |
| pappāḷi/papā paḻam | papaya Papaya The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae... |
papaia |
| pēnā | pen | pena (old type) |
| piṅkāṉ* | plate | palangana |
| pīppa | wooden cask, barrel | pipa |
| sapāttu | shoe | sapato |
| thavaranai | tavern | taverna |
| tācci* | metal pan | tacho |
| tompu* | title | tombo |
| tuvāy* | towel | toalha |
| vaṅki | bank | banco |
| veethuru | glass | vidro |
| veranta | verandah | varanda |
| viskottu | biscuit | biscoito |
Dutch
| Word | Meaning | Original form |
|---|---|---|
| kakkūs | Toilet | kakhuis |
| kāmara* (rarely used) | Room | kamer |
| kantōr* | Office | kantoor |
| Thapal | Post | Tapal |
| kokkis | Cookies | koekjes |
| piaskōpu (rarely used) | Cinema | bioscoop |
| tē(ttaṇṇīr)* | Tea | thee |
English
Sri Lankan Tamil dialects use countless number of English words; following are some of the unique ones.| Word | Meaning | Original form |
|---|---|---|
| kōppi* | Coffee | coffee |
| pattīs* | A kind of fried potato snack | patties |
| pilavus | Worn with Sari Sari A sari or sareeThe name of the garment in various regional languages include: , , , , , , , , , , , , , is a strip of unstitched cloth, worn by females, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. It is popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal,... |
blouse |
| rōls* | A kind of fried meat snack | rolls |
| tākkutar* | Doctor | doctor |
Civil conflict terminology
Black JulyBlack July
Black July is the commonly used name for the anti-Tamil pogrom and attacks carried out by mobs in Sri Lanka which began on July 23, 1983. The riots occurred following a deadly ambush by a Tamil militant organization known as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which killed 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers...
induced civil conflict has introduced number of English and international words to the native population.
| Word | Meaning | Original form |
|---|---|---|
| Claymore* | Land or aerial mine | Claymore Claymore The term claymore refers to the Scottish variant of the late medieval longsword, two-handed swords with a cross hilt, of which the guards were in use during the 15th and 16th centuries.-Terminology:... |
| Heli* | Helicopter | Helicopter |
| Kafir* | Bomber | Kfir KFIR KFIR is a radio station licensed to Sweet Home, Oregon, USA, the station serves the Willamette Valley. Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Salem, Sweet Home. News/Talk with Dennis Miller, Glenn Beck, Lars Larson, & Coast to Coast weekdays. The station is currently owned by Radio Fiesta Network,... Bomber |
| Shell* | Mortar Mortar (weapon) A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber.... or artillery Artillery Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons... shells |
Shell |
Sinhalese
Loanwords from the neighbouring Indo-EuropeanIndo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
Sinhala are quite sparse in Sri Lankan Tamil (as opposed to the large number of Tamil loan words in Sinhala), which is most likely due to the relative isolation of the exclusively Tamil-speaking settlements in the North and East of the island.
| Word | Meaning | Original form |
|---|---|---|
| kirāma cēvakaṉ* | Village Leader | grāma sēvakayā |
| (mālu) panis* | (fish) buns | (mālu) banis |
| mahattayā* | Sir, mister | mahattayā |
| piratēciya sapā* | Council | pradeśiya sabhāva |
| vitānayar* | Village headman | vidāna (muhandirama) |
Malay
There are also a few words from the Malay languageMalay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
. Malay words for edible fruits were introduced during the colonial period by traders . The same terminology is shared with Sinhalese.
| Word | Meaning | Original form |
|---|---|---|
| maṅkostīn* | Type of Fruit | Mangosteen Mangosteen The purple mangosteen , colloquially known simply as mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m tall... |
| ramputan* | A type of fruit | Rambutan Rambutan The rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae, and the fruit of this tree. It is native to Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several... |
| rempa* (rarely used) | Curry mix | Rempa |
| totol * | A type of sweetmeat | dodol |
| tūriyan* | Type of Fruit | Durian Durian The durian is the fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio and the Malvaceae family . Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk... |
Arabic
The Arabic language contributes a large number of words into a dialect form of Tamil that is spoken exclusively by ethnic Sri Lankan MoorsSri Lankan Moors
The Sri Lankan Moors are the third largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka comprising 8% of the country's total population . They are predominantly followers of Islam. The Moors trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled in Sri Lanka some time between the 8th and 15th centuries...
.