Etymon: paTTaN, pattan, patan

[DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA]

At 09:04 AM 11/22/97 -0500, you wrote:
>In a message dated 97-11-22 00:51:18 EST, Sarma wrote:
>
><< I hope in the last line you mean Dravidian rather than Tamilian. As
>somebody
> pointed out earlier on this list this appears to be due to the subconscious
> identification Tamil with Dravidian. >>
>
>The 6 conditions are attributed to Dr. Caldwell and the last line is a direct
>quote from the book of Dr. Ilakkuvanar.
>In this context, I give below a quotation from A comparative grammar of the
>Dravidian Languages by Dr. Caldwell as quoted by Prof. Madhhu.S.
>Vimalanandham in his book in Tamil, History of Tamil Literature:
>"Tamil however the most highly cultivated Ab-intra of all Dravidian idioms,
>can dispense with its Sanskrit altogether, if need be and not only stand
>alone, but flourish withhout its aid." Dr. Caldwell.
>
>

I do not think Dr.Caldwell's certificate to Tamil is relevent here. Everyone
of Dravidian languages has its own protagonists and admirers. What all
I meant to say was Tamil is one of the languages in the Dravidian group of
languages. As some one on this list pointed out, perhaps  it has retained
some of the archaic forms than the other languages of the same group . That
does not give it the right to claim that it is identical with the
proto-dravidian out of which all the dravidian languages have evolved.


regards,
sarma.