Karnataka/KannaDa (was: Karave caste and Kurus)

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

CilappatikAram (5th cent. ?) has karunaTar, and
later texts has the country name as kan2n2a- in tamil texts.

Do we have other examples where -mn- become -nn- in Kannada?
as in kam-nADu to kannADu.

--- Robert Zydenbos <zydenbos at GMX.LI> wrote:
> Am Sam, 30 Dez 2000 schrieb N. Ganesan:
>
> > Both the words, Karnataka and KannaDa go back to the
> > same roots in Dravidian, and they are not from any
> > other langauge root as far as I can see. I would
> > very much appreciate and request Kannada scholars like
> > Prof. Vasundara Filliozat, Dr. Harihareshvara
> > and Prof. R. Zydenbos on this list to explain
> > how the words, KannaDa and Karnataka are explained
> > in KannaDa sources. [...]
>
> > karnATaka/kannAD can be explained in two ways:
> > a) "kalnAD" = boulder country, part of Deccan,
> > also, 'malEnAD' in Hassan area.
> > or
> > b) "karunAD" = country of black earth,
> > Usually black earth signifies fertility
> > and hence praised.
> > I seek guidance from KannaDa experts as to
> > whether a) or b) is correct.
>
> The etymology of "Kannada" is unclear. According to R.
> Narasimhacharya in his _History of the Kannada Language_, it was H.
> Gundert (of the famous Malayalam dictionary) who first suggested
> kar-naa.du "the black country", and Caldwell apparently saw no better
> explanation. But Narasimhacharya writes that "the Kannadigas themselves
> are not likely to designate their language 'the black country
> language'" (which I agree with, since most of the land is not black).
> Others have suggested karu-naa.du "the elevated country".
>
> N.'s own suggestion is that 'Kannada' derives from kammitu-naa.du,
> "land of fragrance", analogous to the meanings of sweetness and
> pleasantness given to 'Telugu' and 'Tamil', and referring to lotus
> ponds and the sandalwood that grows in Karnataka. I think that N.'s
> explanation does not look bad, esp. since there is also a word 'kammu'
> meaning "fragrance" (with derivatives like kammida.l, 'a fragrant
> woman', etc.), so the land could have been kam-naa.du, from which
> 'Kannada' as name of the language is derived. ('Kar.naa.ta' etc. look
> very much like Sanskritisations.)
>
> Robert Zydenbos
> Institut f�r Indologie und Iranistik
> Universit�t M�nchen
> E-mail zydenbos at gmx.li
> Tel. (+49-89-) 2180-5782


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