kUTam

[N. Ganesan]

Witzel, Substrates in OIA, EJVS, 1999
>#  kUTa 10.102.4 'hammer' DEDR 1651, 1655, 1883, app. 29; previously
>explained by Burrow as Drav., later explained by him as IE (German
>hau-en), but see EWA I 384 'unclear'.

"kUTam" is a well-known tamil word for hammer, blacksmith's sledge,
etc., It occurs in literature from Sangam texts onwards all the time.
An example from perumpANARRuppaTai, (one of 10 long poems in CT):

  "karuGkaik kollan2 irumpu vicaittu eRinta
   kUTattu in2n2icai verIi"  (lines 437-8)

"kUTam" is formed from the verb, "kuTTu" ('to beat, strike, pound').
There is a lengthy paper by (E. European) author on "kuTTa-muka"
(powder-faced). I think it is in the L. Sternbach fel. volume,
part I, Lucknow. In that reference, kUTam, kuTTa-mukha etc.,
in Buddhist texts are analyzed as Dravidian. Does anyone know
that citation?

Regards,
N. Ganesan




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