The elephant naLagiri/nalagiri

[C.R. Selvakumar]

Rolf Koch wrote:

*I would suggest that nala is Middle Indian from Sanskrit nada "boaring"

     Turner's CDIAL 6936 for 'naDa' suggests :'possibly through contact with
     Dravidian Kannada naLLu 'reed' , Tamil nel 'hollow' and cites
     Thomas Burrow.

     There are many words in Tamil like noLLai, nALam  etc. which will
     show that the a hollow or tubular structure is the root sense .
     In tamil such a structure is called 'uTTuLai'.
     I don't have DED handy but I'm sure there should be connections there.

     What Madhuresan says is different.

     Regards /C.R.(Selva) Selvakumar

*
*Swaminathan Madhuresan wrote:
*
*> This Dravidian naLa/nala meaning both 'good' and 'black' is
*> interesting. In sangam texts, the brown color (mAmai) is celebrated,
*> opposite of todays' Indian movies where Dalits appear in white
*> colors! The IE notion of good=white/light and evil=black is at
*> odds with the Dravidian nal/naL = good and black.
*>
*> SM