Etymon: paTTaN, pattan, patan

[E. Bashir]

In Panjabi today pattaN means 'ford, place where a river can be crossed'.
Perhaps looking at other (apparent) reflexes in modern languages would be
relevant.


E. Bashir
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
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The University of Michigan
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On Sat, 15 Nov 1997, DR.S.KALYANARAMAN wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Close to the Sarasvati River, we have names of ancient settlements such as
> Prabhas Patan (SaurASTra), Pattan Minara (Bahawalpur Province) (cf.
> Mughal, Ancient Cholistan, 1997 where a 'pre-Islamic' shrine is identified
> on the banks of the River).
>
> paTTaNa is a common suffix in names of ports such as chennappaTTaNam,
> macilIpaTTaNam, vizAkhapaTTaNam.
>
> Is the etymon paTTaN related to an ancient port of call? Is it related to
> paTTi, a street? If so, Pattan Minara could have been a terminal port town
> on the desiccated river?
>
> I would deeply appreciate receiving guidance on this.
>
> Thanks and Regards,
> Kalyanaraman
> kalyan97 at yahoo.com
>