[INDOLOGY] வளந்து

[Arlo Griffiths]

Dear scholars of Tamil,

I understand that the Tamil Lexicon takes the following entry from Jaffna Tamil.

வளந்து vaḷantu, n. Big pot or vessel; பெரிய மிடா. (யாழ். அக.)

https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/tamil-lex_query.py?qs=%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81&searchhws=yes&matchtype=exact
Tamil Lexicon<https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/tamil-lex_query.py?qs=%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81&searchhws=yes&matchtype=exact>
Online version of the University of Madras's 'Tamil lexicon' from the Digital Dictionaries of South Asia
dsal.uchicago.edu

Please correct me if this understanding is wrong. Also, can you confirm that the word does not occur in Tamil sources from the mainland?

If the limited spread of the word in Tamil is confirmed, then I'd like to assume that the word has been borrowed from Sinhalese.

Modern Sinhalese valan̆da (singular direct case form of valan, which is simultaneously stem and plural form) not only means “sign, mark” but also “earthenware vessel, pot”. And usage of the word in the latter sense goes back to the 1st millennium in Sinhalese.

Clough (1892, p. 575): “වලඳ, Walaṉda, s. sign, mark, spot, token; pot, pan, earthen cooking vessel: pl. වලන් valan. Walaṉdanavá, වලඳනවා, v. to eat, used only of priests or men of rank; also, to enjoy”.
Geiger (1941, p. 158, nos 2356 and 2357) mentions both noun and verb, though without citing the meaning “vessel, pot” for the former, and indicates that the historical spelling, attested in inscriptions as old as the 10th century, was with ḷ instead of l.
In the Dictionary of Sinhala Epigraphical Words (Ranawella 2007), one finds several attestations ofvaḷan meaning “pot, vessel”.

All of this is of interest to me because of the existence of a potentially related word valanda in Old Malay and Old Javanese.

If there is anyone on this list who is able to discuss the linguistic history of Sinhalese, I shall be very happy to enter into contact off list.

Arlo Griffiths
EFEO, Jakarta

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