solution to the "kuyava' etymology

[DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA]

At 11:21 PM 1/15/98 EST, S. Palaniappan wrote:
>  Geldner's suggestion that kuyava in VS (and Rv) perhaps
>is to be understood as kUya+vaac would require that there be a separate
>item kUya, and kuyava evidently as coming from ku/Uya+va.  However, as far
>as know, there is no separate attestation for kuya/kUya.

> The
>alternation of radical "o" and "u" is well-known in Dravidian linguistics.
So,
>the lost dialect from which this word was borrowed probably had similar
>alternation. (If this etymology is accepted, it may shed some light on the
>geographic range of "o"/"u" variation in Dravidian also.) This etymology
>obviates the need for an artificial insertion of "a" in front of the VS
>"kuyava" to arrive at a positive meaning necessitated by the context (as in
>the nearby "akSita").
>

>S. Palaniappan

If we accept kuya/kUya refers to word kOya, we have a wellknown forest
tribe in South India by that name. "u" "o" alteration obviously allows this.
Then the word kuyavAc also can be interpreted as their language.

regards,

sarma.