Stomach/womb in Dravidian and -y-/-c- alternation

[Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD]

Dear Palaniappan,

with all due respect to your expertise
on Classical Tamil literature,
I fail to see how a verse from a medieval poet
(what is your date for kampan2?
 9th century? 10th century? 12th century?)
can be taken as a proof (or an argument inside a proof)
that two words are related? [vayiRu and vai]

IMHO, what we see here in these lines
is not an etymological explaination
but an example of moon2ai,
i.e. a kind of alliteration between the first syllable of the line
and the first syllable of some other foot in the same line.

As regards your conclusions, I have no opinion of my own
 ["7. What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence"]

Best wishes

-- Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD


A 17:02 14/06/98 EDT,
vous (Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan <Palaniappa at AOL.COM>) avez écrit :

>Ta. vayiRu stomach/womb is a place where something is deposited/ something
>stays. Ta. vayin2 which occurs in both DEDR 5259 and 5549 provides a critical
>link between the two. It means "stomach" as well as "place". This will become
>clear when we consider the following.
>
>kaiyaik kaiyin2 nerikkum; tan2 kAtalan2,
>vaikum Al ilai an2n2a vayiRRin2aip
>pey vaLait taLirAl picaiyum...........                     (kamparAmAyaNam
>2.4.10.1-3)
>
>A rough translation of the relevant words is  "she would crush one hand with
>another,  and would knead the stomach/womb (vayiRRin2ai) where her son/foetus
>stays (vaikum)." Note the use of the word "vaikum" to describe the stay of
the
>foetus inside the stomach/womb.
>
>....................................................pun2maiyOr
>vaikuRum narakaiyum nakum vayiRRin2An2.    (kamparAmAyaNam 3.10.17.3-4)
>
>In this poem, a demon is said to have a stomach (vayiRRin2An2) which was
>worse/bigger than the hell where bad people stay (vaikuRum).
>
>That the stomach is a place where things are put (vai-) is shown by the
>following lines.
>
>"vayiRRin2uL ulaku Ezin2OTu Ezaiyum vaikkum
>ayirppu il ARRal en2 an2ucan2ai En2am on2Ru Aki
>eyiRRin2Al eRintu in2 uyir uNTavan2 nAmam
>payiRRavO nin2aip payantatu nAn2?" en2ap pakarntAn2.     (kamparAmAyaNam
>6.3.51.1-4)
>
>A rough translation is "Did I give birth to you for you to recite the name of
>the one who became a pig and killed my brother who had the power to put
>(vaikkum) seven plus seven worlds in his stomach (vayiRRinuL)?"
>
>Thus the relationship between vai (to put/deposit), vaiku (to stay), and
>vayiRu (stomach/womb) is clear from these examples. vayiRu is a derivative of
>vai. In fact, the examples shown here provide the connection between the
words
>meaning "to put, place, keep’ and words meaning ‘bear, beget’ discussed in
>DEDR 5549. The Tamil form "vayin2" which was originally included in DED 4299
>Ta. vayiRu  but not in DED 4565 Ta. vai finds its rightful place in both DEDR
>5259 Ta. vayiRu and DEDR 5549 Ta. vai and it seals the relationship beyond
>doubt.
>