Kadamba

[Christophe Vielle]

It remains interesting to note through this 
wonderful tool Pandanus database that

Mitragyna parvifolia Korth. = Stephegyne 
parvifolia [contra parvi"-flora" Apte] S.Vidal, 
same Rubiaceae family as Anthocephalus chinensis 
= skt kadamba but in this case identified with 
Skt vitaana
see: http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=Mitragyna+parvifolia

is identified with Tamil ka.tampai, niirkka.tampu 
(same in Malayaa.lam), ci_n_nakka.tampu, Mal. 
roosu ka.tampu or viimpu,
which means, on the basis of this "sub-variety" 
Dravidian lexical classification, that Apte's 
identification is not wrong at all, and that two 
(close) plants remain possible in this case.

Christophe Vielle




>Take a look at this:
>
>http://images.google.com/images?q='Anthocephalus%20cadamba'
>
>According to the DED, Skt. kadamba is (not 
>surprisingly) Dravidian -- Tamil kaTampu, 
>kaTampam, Telugu kaDambamu, etc.  It was worn by 
>the veelan, a low-caste priest of Murugan, when 
>he became possessed.  One wonders why the 
>retroflex disappeared in Sanskrit -- perhaps the 
>voicing of the -T- (stops are voiced in 
>Tamil/Malayalam when they appear 
>intervocalically) was heard more prominently 
>than the retroflex.  The -T- retroflexed in all 
>the Dravidian languages cited by DED.  It also 
>gives a variant Sanskrit form, kalamba.
>
>George Hart
>
>On Aug 19, 2008, at 9:57 AM, mkapstei at UCHICAGO.EDU wrote:
>
>>Thanks to all who answered my query.
>>There seem to be several Latin designations
>>for the same plant in this case.
>>
>>The very useful Pandanus database
>>suggests "wild cinchona" as the English name,
>>but I am puzzled by this: "cinchona" generally
>>names several quinine-yielding species in
>>South America. Is it possible that, after
>>the invention of the gin and tonic, drunken
>>malaria victims began to see quinine bushes
>>everywhere?
>>
>>Matthew
>>
>>Matthew T. Kapstein
>>Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies
>>The University of Chicago Divinity School
>>
>>Directeur d'études
>>Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris


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