Dravidian golla and Hindi gvAla

[N. Ganesan]

Lakshmi Srinivas wrote:
>Indeed if golla > gvAla, how does it become kOvalan.
>Is it because the short 'o' was lacking in Old Tamil?

>I believe it is much simpler to derive the radical
>syllable of the Tamil word kOnAr (milkman), kOvalar
>from Skt go, gau than to look for it in a complicated
>essay on old Tamil literary landscapes.

In my earlier post suggesting Drav. golla > Hindi gvAla,
the name kOvalar is mentioned nowhere.

The different names in Dravidian for herdsmen
like golla/goLLa (Telugu), kOvalar, kuRumpar and iTaiyar
(Tamil) and Kurubaru/kuruva/kuruma (Kannada) come from
different roots, and none of them, I believe, derive
from skt. gopAla. Tel. golla is recorded by C. P. Brown
among others are from goRRe 'sheep' (DED 1799).

In South India even powerful landlord caste names
do not come from Sanskrit. In Andhra, the landed
castes kApu, kamma and the titles nAyuDu, nAyAka,
Reddi have clear Dravidian roots. Then, how come
a tribe of *low* social status called "golla"
come from Sanskrit? As you derive golla from
skt. gopAla, but the problem I see is their
position in social hierarchy and low amount
of sanskritization. Also, note that mostly
they tend sheep and goats, and not cows.
So, shepherd gollas naturally connect with
goRRi 'sheep', rather than IE go, gau 'cow'.

It is far easier to go from Dr. golla to
Hindi gvAla than the romantic idea of
skt. gopAla roots.

>2. Phonetic resemblances are used, [...] , to set up etymologies without
>adequate
>phonological/morphological considerations.

Insisting on a Sanskrit source derivation for the
low status golla tribe is a good example.
IE go, gau for sheep/goat herding golla tribe?

But, I understand the problem: Even "pAdiri"
Caldwell said Skt. draviDa > dramiDa > tamizh.
It took quite a while to reverse the arrows
to "prove" that "tamizh" indeed is the root, and not
the other way around.

But even now many Indologists are puzzled to
learn that tamizh gave birth to draviDa. See
my reply to Walker Trimble at:
http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-shl/WA.EXE?A2=ind9812&L=indology&P=R29464

Regards,
N. Ganesan


--- "N. Ganesan" <naga_ganesan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
 > In Telugu, golla = a herdsman, a shepherd, ...
 > (C. P. Brown, Telugu-English dictionary, p. 389 )
 > Further, Brown records that "golla" is derived from
 > "gorri" =  A sheep. DED 1799 Ta. koRi sheep
 > ... Te. goRe, goRRe sheep ....
 >
 > For the Telugu word "goRe", compare the Tamil
 > cognates:
 > a)koRi 02 1. sheep; 2. aries, a constellation of the
 > zodiac
 > b)koRi-ttal 01 1. to nip off the husks of grains; to
 > nibble grain; 2. to
 > graze;
 > to pick up food here and there, as cattle; to eat
 > scantily;
 > c)koRRi 1. young calf; 2. cow with a young calf.
 >
 > gvaala in Hindi meaning herdsmen does not seem to be
 > transmuted from Skt. gopAla, even though this is
 > popularly
 > attested in modern dictionaries.
 >
 > Consider Hindi jvAr < ka. jOLa, ta. cOLam, co_n_nal,
 > tel. jonna.
 > (Though Mayrhofer 1953 EWA derives yananala from
 > yavana - Greek, Ionian etc.!)
 >
 > Just as hindi jvAr (= millet ...) < drav. jOLa,
 > the Hindi word gvAla ultimately has roots in drav.
 > golla,
 > and not Skt. gopAla.
 >
 > Regards,
 > N. Ganesan
 >
 > a) Like jvAr < drav. jOLa, and gvAla < drav. golla,
 > Hindi kvAn/kuA_n 'well" seem to be related with
 > DED 1518 Ta. tank, reservoir, lake, Ka. koLa, koNa.
 > .... It appears hindi kvAn < drav. koNa
 >
 > b) This process seems to be working in
 > Skt. jvAla, dhvani. Are jvAla and dhvani IE?
 > and are they attested in old Persian?
 > Thanks.
 >
 >
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