Q. avattam
DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA
narayana at HD1.VSNL.NET.IN
Fri Dec 19 05:35:11 UTC 1997
At 06:29 PM 12/18/97 +0100, you wrote:
>On Thu, 18 Dec 1997, N. Ganesan wrote:
>
>> Q. avattam
>> **********
>>
>> I looked in the University of Koeln - IITS web site for the
>> Tamil word, "avattam". Its meaning is "evil, calamity".
>>
>> I need a textual occurence of "avattam" where this word has
>> the abovesaid meaning.
>>
>> Can someone look it up in Madras university Tamil Lexicon
>> and give a sentence from a relevent reference?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> N. Ganesan
>>
>
> For the meaning requested the Madras Tamil Lexicon has the following
> entrance:
>
> avattam2, n. prob ava-sthaa. Evil, calamity; keeTu. avatta.nkaL
> viLaiyum (tiv. tiruvaay. 10, 3, 9).
>
> I guess the reference is maNavALamAmun_ikaL, tiruvAymol_i nURRantAti,
> cen_n_ai: kaNEca accukkUTam, 1920.
>
> Hope that is helpful
>
> All the best
>
> Andreas Schuettler, IITS, University Koeln, Germany
>
>
The relation of avattam to skt. avastha, I think, is correct.
In telugu 'vAdu cAlA/nAnA avasthalu paDDADu' means "He has undergone many/
various type of difficulties/dire straits". One of the meanings of
upasarga 'ava' is low or down. 'avastha' means being low or down. A man in
difficulties is low or down.
regards,
sarma.
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