Tamil words in English

[Robert J. Zydenbos]

Well, one last comeback... the temptation is just too great.

In response to S Krishna, Sn. Subrahmanya wrote on Fri, 20 Feb 1998
17:39:28 -0600 (Message-ID:
<2.2.32.19980220233928.0092bb08 at ix.netcom.com>):

> Please point out where I said that all languages are descended from
> Sanskrit ? Ask whoever asserted that all languages descended from
> sanskrit to give you the references.

And on Tue, 17 Feb 1998 18:23:36 -0600 (Message-ID:
<2.2.32.19980218002336.00fcf260 at ix.netcom.com>) Sn. Subrahmanya
wrote:

> I (and many other Indians) personally find that Kannada and Telugu
> so similiar to
> other north-Indian languages that I refuse to believe that they
> belong to different language families until some concrete evidence
> that can be independently verified is offered.

Indeed, in that passage you did not use the words "descended from
"Sanskrit"... you only said that you refuse to accept that they
belong to different language families. So perhaps you presume that
Sanskrit and the Dravidian languages belonged to one language
family in some distant past about which, most unfortunately, no
empirical data are available?

But indeed we should keep our eyes open for alternative
interpretations which were not yet current some 20 years ago. India
and Pakistan are playing cricket again, and the other day Afridi
hit a lot of 4's in one over, which was quite impressive. This of
course brings up many questions, like: was Urdu the language of the
Indus Valley civilisation? After all, it is spoken in that area
right now, and it has words and therefore shows a striking
resemblance to, e.g., Turkish and Korean, which are spoken in Asia
(i.e., not so far away: the extended Harappan area), and
archaeologists tell us that all the people who spoke these
languages used pots. What we have not yet considered in this
discussion is that in the light of Adam and Eve being the
progenitors of the entire human race, which in a different way is
also expressed as 'sarva.m khalu ida.m brahma', Gujarati and
Malayalam must be related, with Quechua too, as we already know
from the archaeological data on Hindus having ruled the Americas,
which all real scholars have heard about. I have also heard that
flat objects, presumably ancient stone cricket bats, have also been
found in Mohenjo Daro. This strengthens the HUH (Harappan Urdu
Hypothesis).

Yes, as you see: alternative interpretations of many things *are*
possible - Q.E.D. (And if anyone dares argue against this, (s)he
runs the risk of being branded Eurocentric with colonial ideas --
so watch out!)

Have a nice day, everyone.

RZ