Karnataka/KannaDa (was: Karave caste and Kurus)

[Robert Zydenbos]

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 für Indologie und Iranistik
Universität München
E-mail zydenbos at gmx.li
Tel. (+49-89-) 2180-5782